Cambridge students undergo heart tests after hiker’s death

Hilary Nicholls Clarissa Nicholls, who has light hair and is wearing a grey top, smiling while outside a coffee shop in Paris — Clarissa Nicholls collapsed and died while hiking in France

Students at the University of Cambridge have been offered heart screenings after a 20-year-old undergraduate suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

Clarissa Nicholls collapsed and died from an undiagnosed arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) while hiking in France in May 2023.

Miss Nicholls’ friends have begun Clarissa’s Campaign for Cambridge Hearts and have raised more than £55,000 to pay for heart screenings through electrocardiograms (ECGs) for hundreds of students.

Hilary Nicholls told the BBC that her daughter would have been “very proud”.

Hilary Nicholls (left) and Jess Reeve – co-founder of Clarissa’s Campaign

Robbie Kalus/BBC Two light-haired women - one, on the left, wearing a red and pink top, one, on the right, wearing a cream t-shirt bearing a teddy bear image - standing either side of a "Clarissa's Campaign for Cambridge Hearts" poster — Hilary Nicholls (left) and Jess Reeve – co-founder of Clarissa’s Campaign

Miss Nicholls was studying French and Italian at Trinity Hall and was abroad in her third year, as part of a four-year degree.

She had been working for a publishing company in Paris and, days before her 21st birthday, took a hike in the Gorges du Verdon with her flatmate.

After Miss Nicholls’ death, her family, from Wandsworth, London, threw themselves into raising awareness of heart conditions in young people and raising funds for ECG screening for others with undiagnosed issues.

Miss Nicholls had undergone an ECG but the result had not been “interpreted accurately”, her mother said.

Miss Nicholls was a keen runner and played hockey for the university

Clarissa's Campaign Clarissa Nicholls playing hockey at university. Miss Nicholls is wearing a light blue, short-sleeved, shirt bearing with the word "genei", and long light blue socks. She is walking and carrying a pink, white and red hockey stick in her right hand. — Miss Nicholls was a keen runner and played hockey for the university

Friends of Miss Nicholls, students Jessica Reeve and Izzy Winter, began fundraising through GoFundMe for Clarissa’s Campaign for Cambridge Hearts.

The goal was to raise £7,000, which would pay for one day of ECG screening for about 100 young people.

“Clarissa is fortunate to have some amazing friends,” Mrs Nicholls told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

“I am sure she would have been very proud of the legacy she has given to the university, and very proud of her friends for having turned this tragedy around into something that is actually positive.”

She said students were now being offered “Rolls-Royce” ECG tests.

Her daughter did not have the “opportunity” students were now having, she said.