A BERE Alston resident is to hold several fundraising events in memory of her son who died last year after developing deep vein thrombosis.

The events, in Bere Alston, will be held to coincide with the anniversary of Matthew Collom’s death and World Thrombosis Day on October 13.

Forty-three-year-old Matthew Collom, son of Yvonne Collom, was staying with his mother for work when she found him in a near unconscious state less than ten minutes before he died.

Matthew lived his young life in Bere Alston, attending the primary school and then moved on to Tavistock Comprehensive.

He joined the Army at 16 and served for ten years seeing action on the First Gulf War and peacekeeping in Bosnia.

On leaving the army he joined Orange as a mobile phone technical engineer.

He lived in Wiltshire with his wife and three children.

Matthew’s mum, Yvonne said: ‘My son died last year on the fourth of October. He wasn’t aware that anything serious was wrong but had been feeling ill for a couple days.

‘I was the one who went in and found him, I went up to his room to take him a coffee and paracetamol in bed. He came out from the bathroom as we were supposed to be going on the road back to Wiltshire and he said “I’m really not feeling well”.’

She added: ‘Deep vein thrombosis can be treated if people are aware and seek medical advice but a lot of people aren’t aware.

‘I went online to see if we could find some organisation to link with and put on some events to make people aware because Matthew was quite well before he died.

‘I just want to make people aware that this is a killer. If people go to the doctor with the symptoms then the doctor can treat it.

‘The coroner told me that they are getting a lot more cases of deep vein thrombosis. One of my daughter’s friends also found someone who had died from it.

‘It is almost always put down to long flights but Matthew hadn’t flown for around 15 years. He did drive a lot for work though.’

The first event will be a tombola and craft sale held at Bere Alston mini market parish hall on Saturday (October 10) from 10.30am to 2.30pm.

‘This weekend is going to be incredibly hard but I will be surrounded by friends and family working for a good cause and raising awareness.’

The main event, which is being held later in the month so that Yvonne’s granddaughter can attend, will be a quiz and grand raffle at Bere Alston Bowling Club.

l Speaking about the symptoms of deep vein thombosis Dr Mike Maguire, GP at Abbey Surgery, Tavistock said: ‘Usually people develop swelling in one leg rather than two legs. It can come from inactivity, when someone has been laying in bed for a long period of time because they are poorly. The leg will become painful and swollen.

‘Generally the public are aware, particularly about flights. When on a long haul flight people must get up and walk around and keep hydrated. GPs are very aware because the condition can be life threatening.

‘Immobility serves a risk. If you have cancer, that can increase the risk and so can being overweight or pregnant. If someone does develop swelling in one leg that they cannot account for it is wise to seek medical advice.’