Wife heartbroken as new husband dies driving to work from illness he didn’t know he had

Wife heartbroken as new husband dies driving to work from illness he didn’t know he had

A devastated wife has recalled the moment she found out her ‘gym-loving’ new husband died while driving to work. Just six months after getting married, Darren Brooks, 41, died ‘unexpectedly’ due to an underlying but potentially deadly heart condition he never knew he had.

It was later discovered that Darren had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HOCM). The condition causes the walls of the heart to become thick and stiff.

Over time, the heart can’t take in or pump out enough blood to supply the body. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is known to cause sudden cardiac death in athletes.

Onlookers who spotted the 41-year-old says he was ‘slumped’ at the wheel on the M61. Darren tragically died instantly at the scene on November 15, 2022.

The field engineer ‘loved going to the gym’ and lived an ‘active’ lifestyle. Darren’s healthy lifestyle left his wife, Sarah Brooks, to believe there was ‘no reason to suspect’ anything was wrong.

Darren and Sarah married six months earlier -Credit:Kennedy News and Media

Many young sports stars have died from the condition, including former Manchester City footballer Marc-Vivien Foé, 28, in 2003. As well as basketball player Hank Gathers, 23, in 1990 and basketball player Reggie Lewis, 27, in 1993.

It led former footballer Fabrice Muamba to suffer a cardiac arrest and collapse during Bolton’s FA Cup match vs Tottenham Hotspur in March 2012. Luckily he was resuscitated despite his heart stopping for 78 minutes and he now supports British Heart Foundation campaigns.

Sarah, 37, is taking part in a charity skydive in Nottingham with the North West team at Utilita, where Darren worked for three years, to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. The theater purchasing buyer, who lives in Oldham, Greater Manchester, said: “It was just horrible. We’d just started married life and were excited to start a family and excited to do everything.

“You just never envision losing your husband that early in life ever. We were planning on having a family. We were just in love. The day started as normal. I always rang him when I was on my lunch hour. The police answered his phone and questioned where I was and needed to see me that morning.

“He was on the motorway heading to his first job in the morning. Unfortunately he suffered a medical episode, which now we know was caused by a disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He passed away at the wheel. Luckily he didn’t injure anyone else It was members of the public who noticed Darren slumped on the wheel.

Many young sports stars have died from the same condition -Credit:Kennedy News and Media

She added: “All the emergency services were called. They tried to revive him for over 30 minutes on the motorway but unfortunately he was pronounced dead at the scene. They thought he had a heart attack because they didn’t know the route of the course. It took us six to eight weeks to finally find out the cause of his death.”

The 37-year-old revealed her husband’s active lifestyle led doctors to dismiss his ‘large heart’, which is a symptom of HOCM. Sarah said: “He had no symptoms or reason to suspect something was wrong. He went to the gym everyday. He loved going to the gym and kept himself active. He was never someone who would sit around. He ate healthily.

“He was told he had a large heart but because he’d liked going to the gym they said that it was normal with his frame. But that’s one of the symptoms of HOCM that can cause an enlarged heart. It basically shuts down the walls. The muscles of the walls thicken and if untreated it can cause sudden death.”

The wife revealed her late husband ‘always wanted’ to do a skydive and hopes he can now as she has two tattoos on her arms with Darren’s ashes in. By supporting the British Heart Foundation, the wife hopes to prevent anyone else from experiencing the ‘hell’ she has been through after her death.

Sarah said: “Utilita were shell-shocked the day he died. He’s left a giant Darren-shaped hole in the North West Utilita team. We wanted to do something in his memory to raise awareness. He’d always wanted to do a skydive I thought what better way to honor him than jumping out of a plane.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy restricts the heart’s capacity to pump blood around the body -Credit:Kennedy News and Media

“I’m excited because I’ve actually got two tattoos with Darren’s ashes in. I feel like I’m fulfilling one of his wishes that he wanted to do for him. He’d be laughing his head off at me. He knows It’s something I’d never do. If I can’t do it for my husband then I can’t do it for anyone.

“I just want to make someone think if they have a symptom or anything to go and get themselves checked out. If I can stop one family going through the hell that I’ve gone through then that’s all I want.

“There’s a lot of people that do have underlying conditions they don’t know about. You just never know what’s around the corner. I would never wish what happened to me on anyone, to go through the loss of a husband at such a young age. If I can just save one person and if something positive can come out of something so negative it makes life a little bit easier.”

A GoFundMe page, which has currently raised £2,810, was set up by 18-year-old Hannah Hughes, whose dad also works for Utilita and who had surgery for a congenital heart condition at just four years old. Hannah said: “It was a very unexpected thing to happen to Darren. It shouldn’t have happened. It was very unfair.

“It’s very sad but this is why it’s important to raise money so things like that can be diagnosed earlier. I also had heart surgery when I was four. Without that, I wouldn’t be here today. Being able to put money into their research and congenital heart research is very important to me and my dad.

“It was life-changing for me. It makes me less nervous to do the jump. It’s for such an important cause that it’s bigger than me.” You can donate to the GoFundMe here – https://www.gofundme.com/f/brooks-500