‘My best friend was happy and looking forward to new year. But I knew something was wrong when he didn’t answer his phone’

When Luca Quinn didn’t answer his phone over the new year, his best friend wasn’t concerned.

But after 40 missed calls from his worried girlfriend, Luca’s family and friends felt they were left with no other option but to break down his flat door – only to find the 30-year-old in bed, unresponsive.

Despite the best efforts to resuscitate him, it was too late. He had died without any warning from a sudden and unexplained heart condition called sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS).

Jed Pomeroy, 33, a lifelong best friend of Mr Quinn, told The Independent: “His heart just stopped working, and there was no kind of reason behind it.

“At first I found it incredibly hard that the cause of Luca’s death was unexplained. I’ve had to learn to accept that some people are just really unlucky. Luca was the funniest person you could ever hope to meet – with a heart of gold.”

The condition, which affects around 500 people every year in the UK, causes a person to die suddenly and unexpectedly from cardiac arrest without any clear cause.

Mr Quinn’s girlfriend Beatrice Vacnuic was abroad at the time visiting her family, leaving Mr Quinn at their flat in Chiswick, west London.

The couple had been speaking regularly, but on the evening of 29 December, Mr Quinn didn’t answer his phone. She tried again later that evening and then again the following day with no answer.

Growing increasingly worried she asked Mr Pomeroy, who was also abroad for new year, if he had been in touch with Mr Quinn – but he too had heard nothing.

“It wasn’t really unusual for Luca to not message,” he added. “If he didn’t want to speak to people he would just turn his phone off, and he’d be fine with that. So, I didn’t really think much of it. But I didn’t realise that Beatrice had been ringing him so much, she had rung him 40 times.”

After speaking with other friends and family members, it was decided someone needed to check up on him. But once he did not answer the door, they pushed their way in and found he had died.

When Mr Pomeroy, who had been friends with Mr Quinn since the age of 11, received the news, he immediately flew home. But it was months before Mr Quinn’s friends and family had any answers about what caused his death.

“It was a very slow and drawn-out process because there was a backlog of deaths to have postmortems at that time. His funeral wasn’t until April,” recalled Mr Pomeroy.

“That period was really tough because we were just waiting around for the postmortem results, and then when we found out it was SADS, it was not disappointing but it was almost frustrating because there is no real cause to it.

“I had heard about cardiac arrests and heart attacks but I’d never heard of SADS. It was difficult to process but over time I have come to terms with it.”

His funeral was held in April 2023 at Ealing Abbey and was “completely packed,” Mr Pomeroy said, adding: “It just goes to show how much of a nice person he was and how much impact he had on so many people’s lives.

“Luca was such a funny person, he always lit up a room and everyone saw him as a gentle giant because he was 6ft 2in. He was always the most friendly, laid back and easy person and he always could make everyone laugh.”

Although the cause of SADS is not fully understood, it usually happens when a dangerously abnormal heart rhythm goes untreated and leads to cardiac arrest, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said.

These abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias, are not always dangerous. They can cause the heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly and can be caused by a heart condition that affects the heart’s electrical system.

Mr Quinn, who had an active job working as a pipe fitter, had no prior symptoms. In some cases, the heart condition that causes the arrhythmia can be inherited, but nothing was found when his family was tested.

Mr Pomeroy, who also has a heart condition called dextrocardia which means his heart is on the right-hand side, explained that more research is needed to understand SADS. He ran the Porto half-marathon in September, raising £2,000 and awareness for the BHF.

This Christmas, the BHF has launched the ‘A Gift That Keeps on Living’ campaign to encourage people to donate and help them fund lifesaving research into cardiovascular disease, including conditions like sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the charity, said: “Jed is one of so many people across the UK whose Christmas wish is for treatments and cures that we just don’t have yet.

“Groundbreaking research funded by BHF has helped improve and save the lives of many people with cardiovascular disease, but our job is not done. The more we can discover, through the public’s donations, the more lives can be saved – and give people many more Christmases with their loved ones.”