HAD he lived, Adam Rowbottom would have been 25 in March this year.

Instead, he went to bed one night in July 2011 and never woke up.

He died of heart failure aged just 23, leaving his family in shock.

They only found out in February last year that he died from an undetected genetic heart condition – left ventricular non-compaction.

On Sunday, two years on to the day, his mother Ulrike, his brother Anthony and three of Adam’s friends joined 1,000 people on a sponsored walk through London for the charity CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young – to raise awareness of conditions like Adam’s and fund further research.

Mrs Rowbottom, 53, from Mattock Way in Abingdon said: “It was a good way of commemorating the day not just to walk for Adam but also for the hundreds of young people who die every year and whose families suffer terribly.

“When it happens you’re completely alone, but on the walk you see all these people trying to turn tragedy into something positive.

“You never get over it, that’s impossible – it’s not an illness, but you learn to live with it.

“For me it was incredibly profound to think about the thousands who have no idea what tragedy will befall them.”

Mrs Rowbottom is the Oxfordshire representative for CRY.

According to the charity 12 people under the age of 35 die of heart failure every week in the UK.

Chief executive and founder of the charity, Alison Cox MBE, said: “We are immensely grateful that Ulrike and her supporters were able to join us on Sunday.”

On the walk, Mrs Rowbottom and Anthony, 27, were joined by three of Adam’s friends, Hannah Rollinson, 25, Jess Gifillan, 26, and Sean Curran, 26, who went to Larkmead School with Adam.

In March this year Anthony and friend James Edwards cycled 750 miles from London to Berlin to raise money, arriving on Adam’s birthday, March 27. They raised more than £10,000. Mrs Rowbottom added: “Adam would have been so proud of his brother.”

Now she is arranging for CRY to send their mobile screening unit to Abingdon next year.

The unit will be able to see 100 people in one day. Statistically, one in 300 people have a serious undiagnosed heart condition.

Mrs Rowbottom said: “I am urging everyone to get checked. Adam was as fit as a fiddle, he didn’t smoke or take drugs and was hardly ever ill.”