Fitness fanatic, 24, died in girlfriend's arms

An inquest on Wednesday (September 17) heard how former Sussex hockey player Luke Meekings, 24, fell ill while driving along Poulters Lane, Worthing.

Coroner Penelope Schofield said Luke, who was moving from his family home at Slindon into a house at Rustington, managed to pull over to the side of the road before slumping unconscious across his partner, who was not named in the hearing.

Luke was then rushed to Worthing Hospital by paramedics, but could not be revived.

Pathologist Mark Appleton said a post-mortem examination revealed Luke's heart was almost three times as large as a normal heart, a genetic condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Sue Meekings, Luke's mother, said her son was "a very fit young man" who would often go the gym five times a week and had played hockey for his county, Middleton and Bognor.

"Silent disease"

She said she was unaware Luke had taken steroids for body-building, which Mr Appleton said could have exacerbated his condition, but added her son had "desperately" tried to regain fitness after a long recovery from a hand injury and hernia operation.

Mrs Meekings said there was no obvious indication Luke was ill, and that his family had attributed his periods of tiredness in the weeks leading up to his death to the hours of work he was putting into a new house he had recently bought in Rustington.

Mr Appleton said the condition could often be a "silent disease" with no obvious symptoms.

Mrs Meekings added that tests funded by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) after Luke's death revealed his elder brother, poet Sam Meekings, also had the condition, although younger brother Thomas did not.

Mrs Schofield offered her condolences to Mrs Meekings and Luke's father, Roger, and recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Meekings described Luke as "larger than life".

She said: "He was a real personality everywhere he went. He was very lively. He didn't do sitting down, he liked to be the centre of attention."

She paid tribute to the work of CRY, which campaigns to have all young sportsmen and athletes tested for heart conditions.

She said the charity had funded heart screening for her family after Luke's death, which revealed the same condition in her eldest son, who lives in Beijing, drastically changing his life.

"No sport. No running for the bus," said Mrs Meekings. "And his 18-month-old child will have to be watched and screened.

"He will have to come back to London every year for monitoring."

Mrs Meekings said family and friends had celebrated Luke's life at a humanist funeral service at the family's home in Slindon in early July.

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