Grieving dad fears for children's health after wife died suddenly in her sleep due to genetic heart condition

Dale Lockwood, 33, from West Yorkshire returned home from work on October 10, 2023 to find his childhood sweetheart, Ruby, lifeless in her bed. The primary school deputy headteacher made desperate attempts to resuscitate her, but soon realised there was nothing he could do.

After 10 months of searching for answers, Dale discovered his wife had a rare genetic heart condition called sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS), a rare genetic condition that causes unexpected cardiac arrest. Now, Dale is terrified that their two children, Arthur, four, and Winifred, one, may also carry the same gene.

“It’s horrendous and it wasn’t expected,” he said. “Ruby wasn’t poorly, she had no symptoms. As well as losing your wife, the love of your life and the mother of your children, there’s also the worry that it could happen to your children.”

Dale said he had a hard time explaining Ruby’s death to his son, Arthur. He said: “Telling Arthur that ‘mummy had died’ is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You’ve just got to be open and direct...Not comparing it to finding Rubes, because that was horrendous... but the shock kicked in then, telling Arthur was just raw emotion, and he just sobbed.”

Ruby, a police detective, died unexpectedly, leading to a post-mortem that initially came back inconclusive. Seven weeks later, Dale was told Ruby had died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart condition. However, after further testing, it was revealed that SADS was the more likely cause.

“Some signal within Ruby’s system wasn’t working correctly and just stopped that day,” Dale explained, adding that there is a 50 percent chance their children could inherit the condition. Dale and his family now face an eight-month wait for genetic testing to determine if a faulty gene is present in Ruby’s samples, which could help assess the risk to their children.

In the meantime, Dale has raised over £17,000 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to raise awareness of SADS. “I’m trying to make what happened to Ruby count... to stop it from happening to anyone else,” he said.

Reflecting on his relationship with Ruby, Dale shared fond memories of their life together. The couple met at 17, married in 2019, and had two children in 2020 and 2022. “Everybody liked Ruby. She was full of life, fantastic at her job, and an amazing mum and wife,” Dale said. On the day of her death, Ruby had come home from work, and the couple had shared “a catch up, a chat, and a laugh” before she went to sleep.

Dale continues to honour Ruby’s memory by participating in marathons and challenges, recently completing the AJ Bell Great North Run. “Crossing the finish line, it hit me what I had done it for,” he said. For inspiration, Dale tied a piece of Ruby’s 2015 running vest around his wrist during the race.