THE death of James Bott because of a rare heart problem devastated his family. And now they have discovered some of them have the same condition.

Mr Bott, 21, had complained about chest pains and then a year ago he went to sleep one night and never woke up.

He had Brugada syndrome, an arrhythmia which caused his heart to stop beating, and meant his relatives had to be tested to see if they suffered the same condition.

His mother and father, Karen and Terry, and half-brother Rob Breeze all have the syndrome. His sister Amy does not.

Rob and Terry have had heart surgery to fit an ICD – an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which monitors the heart and shocks it if arrhythmia is detected.

Karen has a milder form of the condition and did not have surgery.

Rob, a Thames Water maintenance technician, said: “I was totally normal just like everyone else, then James passed away suddenly.

“Since then it has just been non-stop. I haven’t had time to take a breath or pause.

“We were asked to come in and have some tests done.

“Obviously they spotted something in my results they weren’t happy with and didn’t let me leave hospital, I had the operation a week later.

“We have ICDs implanted just in case it did happen.”

Now, to mark the first anniversary of Mr Bott’s death, family and friends plan to cycle almost 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats Mr Bott’s cousin Joey Wynne, 15, stepfather Ian Lynes, 46, and best friend Ryan Wallace, 22, will start their ride on the anniversary of Mr Bott’s death, July 30, with Mr Breeze their back-up driver.

They hope to reach their destination on August 11, which would be the anniversary of Mr Bott’s funeral.

The ride is part of a campaign to keep Mr Bott’s memory alive and raise enough cash to pay for a defibrillator in every school in Banbury.

Organiser Rebecca Langton, Mr Breeze’s fiancee from Bretch Hill, said: “James was cheeky, that’s how I would describe him.

“He loved his family and spent a lot of time with his family.”

To sponsor the team got to view justgiving.com/ JamesBott