Former England captain Rio Ferdinand has backed a campaign to get young people screened for heart conditions, just weeks after his wife passed away.

The former Manchester United defender, who lives in Kent with his family, was devastated by the sudden loss of thirty four year old wife Rebecca on May 1st after a short battle against breast cancer.

Mother to his three children, Rebecca’s sudden passing puts life into perspective, with Rio still keen to promote Why Not Run at the weekend, a series of runs at Farringtons School in Chislehurst for Cardiac Risk in the Young and Bromley Y, two charities that support young people.

The Queens Park Rangers defender kept to his promise of attending the event, giving out prizes to the competitors and speaking at the end of the day, highlighted the importance of fundraising events and the exposure they can bring to such worthy causes:

“Obviously running is great for your health, but more importantly are the charities that are attached to it. It’s fantastic for them to get some exposure and some funding as well.”

“CRY is something that has been very relevant in my life in the last couple of years with a few things that have happened on football pitches, so it’s important that people know the importance of screening, especially going into schools.”

“The more awareness there is and parents get educated about this, then the more chance there is for them to take their kids to be screened.”

“It’s good to have events such as Why Not Run at places like Farringtons School where my three kids go and they do screening every year.”

There have been some high profile cases of footballers being struck down by undiagnosed heart conditions with two footballers dying in Belgium in the past month.

Here in England there have been cases too with Ferdinand stating how the issue has been brought closer to home than he ever imagined:

“Both Fabrice Muamba (who survived a heart attack whilst playing football) and Marc Vivien Foe (who died whilst playing for Cameroon in 2003) were two people that had bad things happen to them, but the exposure enlightened a lot of people and put us in the position where we are now where good things are happening.”

The Why Not Run event has become an annual fundraiser, helping bring in much needed funds and was brought about by the sudden death of Ben Daniels aged 15 and his father Paul works tirelessly to raise funds for CRY, but also awareness and Ferdinand advocates more support for such events:

“I think you can say this is one of the few events that it’s all about the taking part, it’s not about who finishes first, second or third, it’s about taking part, really enjoying the day and raising some good money for the two great causes.”

“With all charities, if you can have an effect on just one person, then you have done your job.”