My sister nearly died after four heart attacks - all on Christmas Day

The tinsel, crackers and presents will always bring back the memory of December 25, 2008, when her sister, Lara Badger, almost died.

Out of the blue, Lara, then 25, was hit by four cardiac arrests.

She collapsed at her father’s flat in Shirley Towers and was saved by her dad, Pete, a volunteer lifesaver from Hampshire Basics, who performed CPR and who brought her back from death four times.

Now Amber is campaigning against the National Screening Committee’s decision not to implement cardiac screening programmes for young people, aged 12-39, in the hope that other families won’t have a near or actual tragedy of their own.

“It was Christmas Day and my dad, Lara and I were in our living room,” says Amber, who was 17 at the time.

“We had just had such a wonderful day together and Lara seemed totally normal.

“Then she turned to dad and said she didn’t feel too good. The next thing, her eyes had rolled into the back of her head and she was having a fit of convulsions. Her body then went limp and she collapsed and wasn’t breathing.

“After that we went on autopilot,” she continues.

“I ran to the phone and called 999. I was initially hysterical, until the woman on the phone calmed me down. She was amazing.

“With just a few simple words she had me calmly relaying to my dad how to perform CPR on Lara.

“The woman stayed on the phone with me until I could see the ambulance lights outside. It felt like an eternity.”

“Once the paramedics arrived, my dad and I were rushed into the kitchen out of the way. My dad was in a heap on the floor, clutching a photo of his own father, who had passed away. He’s not a religious man and it’s the closest I’ve ever seen to him praying.

“I was certain that she was dead. I was absolutely positive that I’d lost my sister, my best friend. The grief was like nothing I’d experienced.”

• To read Amber’s open letter to the UK National Screening Committee and to sign her petition, visit change.org

Lara was placed in intensive care in Southampton General Hospital, and her family were warned that she might not come out of her coma.

“It’s difficult for me to look back on the time when Lara was in hospital,” says Amber.

“I think I’ve blanked a lot of it out.

“We spent most of our time in the intensive care family waiting room as she went in and out of her coma.

“I remember thinking I was so lucky that I had my family around me – family members from all over the UK had travelled to Southampton to be with us – but equally, feeling numb to everything.

“Now and again we were allowed in to see her. It was like an out of body experience. I didn’t know how to deal with it. It didn’t make sense to me that this person with all these machines plugged up to her was my sister.”

Lara recovered but later had a further cardiac arrest. Luckily she survived, but the experience made Amber determined to so what she could to prevent others from suffering a similar fate.

“When she recovered the first time, we then felt constant worry that it would happen again,” says Amber.

“When it did happen again, it almost hurt even more. I know it did for her. This time we know it wasn’t a freak occurrence, but actually something that was wrong with her. That’s a very hard thing to come to terms with.”

Amber feels routine screenings of young people for heart conditions should be available, to allow for early intervention before people fall ill.

She has started an online petition and is hoping to collect 10,000 signatures before she formally brings it to the attention of the UK National Screening Committee.

So far she has collected 2,300 signatures.

“There is a long way to go but the incredible comments people have been leaving have been mind-blowing,” says Amber.

“So, so many people have their own stories to tell. I’ve had a lot of people get in touch to tell me what they have been through and how much the campaign means to to them.”

Every week in the UK, at least 12 young people die from undiagnosed heart conditions. Amber says she is horrified by the UK National Screening Committee’s decision not to implement cardiac screening programmes for young people.

“To me, it’s a no brainer,” she says.

“Heart screenings should be made available to young people. If Lara had had a heart screening, something could have been picked up. She could have been fitted with an ICD earlier and we could have avoided the absolute nightmare.

“So many people aren’t as lucky as Lara. Really, she shouldn’t have survived.

"It’s a miracle that she did.

• For information, advice and support, visit Cardiac Risk in the Young’s site at c-r-y.org.uk

“This comes down to costs – but how can you put a price on a human life?

“Young people are dying every day from undiagnosed heart problems.

"Why wouldn’t you want to do everything in your power to stop that?

“It breaks my heart that other families have lost a loved one in this way," she adds.

“I cannot imagine what I would have done had Lara not survived."