A Hillingdon family devastated by the sudden loss of their "kind and loving'" daughter are backing a charity in her memory.

Fit and healthy university student Balinder Mann died suddenly in her family home on January 28th this year - aged just 18.

Exactly five months after her death, on Sunday, relatives joined around 2,000 'walkers' on 'The Heart of London Bridges Walk', organised by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

The walk passes by 12 of London’s most famous landmarks, representing the deaths of the 12 apparently “fit and healthy” young people, aged 35 and under, who die every week in the UK from young, sudden, cardiac death (YSCD).

The family are still coming to terms with losing "studious and ambitious" Balinder, who was studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bath.

Her father, Jarinder Mann, 45, said: “There were no tell-tale signs.

"If we'd have known about CRY and that 12 people die a week, or if somebody brought it to our attention, I would have got all three of my daughters screened.

“The government should make it compulsory with the amount of kids we're losing every week.”

Describing the pain of losing his daughter, he said: “You wake up up every morning and all the happiness has been taken out of you, you're carrying on but there's no happiness in your life anymore.”

Mr Mann, also father to Tanisha, 16, and Jas, 23, wants to raise as much money as possible to help other people.

He added: “We want to get the information out to people that there is an option there to get your child screened.

"The only thing we wish now is that no other parent has to go through what we went through and are still going through. If we can prevent one death we've fulfilled what we set out to do.”

CRY London Bridgewalk 2015, with family members of Balinder Mann

Jas Mann, the eldest of the three daughters, still doesn't know what happened to her sister as family genetic screening found nothing wrong.

She said: “Balinder came home after her exams in January and was taking a break for a few days.

"She was perfectly fine, and she'd never had any health problems.

"It was in the middle of the night and her body just shut down and she struggled to breathe, it all happened in the space of an hour, that's how sudden it is.

“She was very studious and ambitious, she was very loving towards everyone and very bubbly.

"She had quite a big group of friends and mixed in with lot's of groups of friends.”

Her mother, Narinder Mann, 46, cannot understand why her daughter was taken away.

She said: “Balinder was just one of the most kindest people, she was beautiful inside and out and such a loving person. She'd help anyone.

“We had never ever heard of this until Balinder passed away – why aren't people made aware of this?”

The family have raised more than £2,000 for CRY at the fundraising walk and hope to continue raising more to help prevent young sudden deaths like Balinder's.

Alison Cox MBE, chief executive and founder of the charity, said: “Even after 20 years, I never fail to be astonished by the enormous courage our bereaved families have as they determine to work around their own terrible grief to fundraise for CRY, using every possible opportunity to prevent other families from suffering the same tragic experience they have endured.

"We are immensely grateful to the Mann family for signing up to our ‘Bridges Walk’ and know that so many people from their local area will be supporting them every step of the way.”

You can donate to CRY through the Mann family's fundraising page.