A GLENGORMLEY woman who lost her husband and two sons to heart conditions is supporting an urgent call for more funding into sudden cardiac death.
Sharon Lyttle is supporting the call from the British Heart Foundation for more funding into research to understand the causes and find cures for sudden cardiac death.
She knows only too well how inherited heart disease can have a devastating impact on a family, having lost her husband and two sons to heart conditions.
Sharon and her husband Neil were left distraught in June 2008 when their eldest son Ryan (13) died suddenly. Thirteen months later, Neil, who was just 40 years of age, passed away from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Ryan’s death was said at the time to have been the result of an asthma attack, but following his father’s tragic passing in August 2009, it was presumed the teenager also had a cardiomyopathy.
With her husband and eldest son passing away so close to each other, Sharon made sure youngest son Niall (9) was screened for a cardiomyopathy and he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Niall was put on medication and gave up the competitive physical sports he enjoyed – hurling and inline hockey, on the advice of his specialist. However, he was still able to enjoy less strenuous sports such as golf, and he became a referee for inline hockey.
“Because of what happened to Niall’s daddy and his brother, with his diagnosis I made sure he was kept busy so the heart condition didn’t hold him back," she said. “He was a member of two local golf clubs – his main club Greenacres and for a while he played at the Hilton Templepatrick. Before he was 18, Greenacres asked him to play for their society and he was also Junior Captain.
“Niall had a wonderful personality. With it being just the two of us for so long, we were very close and had a special bond. Niall would always sit and chat with me and make sure I was okay.
Our research is providing much-needed answers and hope to families who have faced the challenge of losing loved ones to sudden cardiac death. Professor Elijah Behr hopes to understand the heart rhythm problems that cause sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS).
— British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF) July 6, 2024
“He was so loving and kind and would always make sure he visited his two grannies. Niall was also very popular with his work and university friends, he had a big cheeky smile and was very witty.”
Niall was studying International Hospitality and business management at Ulster University and Sharon said he had hoped to get into hotel management. He had a placement organised, however Niall never got to complete it.
On 14th November 2018, ten years after his brother had sadly died, Niall went on a university team-building night out on the Belfast party bikes. It was there he had a cardiac arrest. Bystanders worked on him with a defibrillator and called an ambulance but he had another cardiac arrest in the ambulance.
Niall was taken to the ICU at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and with his heart having stopped, he was placed on a ventilator until November 18. Sadly, family and medical staff had to take the heartbreaking decision to turn the ventilator off.
Sharon added: “His friends on the bikes said Niall went pale and his hands were shaking just before he fell off it, but the consultant said we don’t know and we probably won’t ever know if he had the cardiac arrest and fell off the bike or fell off the bike and had the cardiac arrest.”
Five years on and Sharon says the pain of losing Niall never goes away.
“Losing Niall was a living nightmare especially after what I’d gone through losing his brother and dad. Having such a close family circle with my sisters has got me through.
“I still meet with Niall’s friends and I can see how much he meant to them all and how much he is still missed. It also gives me some comfort to know that the two boys are now with their daddy.
“His uni lecturers still keep in touch with messages on his anniversary and they have the Niall Lyttle Cup for placement in his memory. At his college, Edmund Rice, they all remember him with the Niall Lyttle award for hospitality.”
Sharon continues to keep the memories of her boys alive by celebrating their anniversaries and birthdays and she says remembering them alongside their friends gives her some peace.
Sharon and her family have raised thousands of pounds for charities in Niall’s memory and said the generosity of people has been “overwhelming".
“People have been amazing in their support over the past number of years but more needs to be done to help people out there suffering from inherited heart conditions.
“I would encourage everyone to donate to BHF to help fund more lifesaving research to prevent other families going through the heartbreak I am.”
