'No one thought Dad was candidate for heart attack'

“DOWN WITH this sort of thing,” Dermot Morgan might have said if he were asked about the dangers of high blood pressure.

Sadly, the comedian and star of Father Ted died prematurely of a heart attack 14 years ago at the age of 45 and so it fell to his three adult sons, Don, Rob and Ben, to launch a campaign encouraging people to have their blood pressure checked regularly.

“Looking back, no one thought Dad was a candidate for a heart attack,” his eldest son, Don, now 33, reminisced yesterday. “He was young and looked good, didn’t smoke. But thinking about it, his lifestyle was pretty hectic and stressed, he liked his food and eating out, and the only running around he did was chasing after us at the weekends, which probably doesn’t count as being active.”

All adults, even healthy ones, should have their blood pressure checked regularly to reduce their risk of heart disease, the Irish Heart Foundation warned at the launch of its September Heart Month campaign, which includes an offer of free checks at more than 50 locations nationwide.

Rob Morgan, Dermot’s middle son, said his father died “far too young by anyone’s measure”.

“I think it’s often easy to think we are invincible and that blood pressure checks are for someone else or for someone older.”