Women who became widows in their 30s call on NHS to provide mandatory health checks after partners’ sudden deaths

Two women who became widows in their 30s are calling for young people to receive mandatory full health checks on the NHS to make sure their partners’ unexpected deaths “count for something”.

Laura Burr, 31, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, and 32-year-old Gabby Evans, from Burnley, Lancashire, met over TikTok in March this year after they had been using the platform to document their grief.

Laura’s husband, Edward Burr, died aged 32 in October 2024, and Gabby’s partner, Tom Brakewell, died in January 2025 at the age of 34 – both had been suffering with underlying heart conditions which they feel may have been spotted if the NHS carried out routine health checks.

While the pair have never met in person, Laura, who works for Scottish Power, and Gabby, a registered nurse, now speak to each other every day to “check in” and navigate their grief together, which they take “one day at a time”.

Together, they have launched a petition this month to call for mandatory health checks for those aged between 25 and 35 – with the aim of detecting and preventing underlying conditions, and to ensure “no-one would have to go through what we’ve gone through”.

“We don’t want Tom and Edward to have died for no reason, their deaths have to count for something and maybe this petition is why,” Laura told PA Real Life.

“We wanted to spend the rest of our lives with them, they were going to do wonderful things in the world and now they’re not able to.”

Gabby added: “I like to picture them up there sat on a sofa, watching Lord Of The Rings together and wondering what we’re getting up to down here.

“If our campaign can get just one person to check their health, it’s worth it and we’ve done our job.”

Laura and Edward tied the knot on April 6 2024 after six years together.

The day after their wedding, Laura said Edward complained of feeling unwell, but the couple put this down to being in a room with around 60 of their loved ones.

“That escalated into going into our local hospital and him being diagnosed with pneumonia,” Laura said.

There, it was also found Edward’s heart was behaving “abnormally” and he was transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – but on the ambulance journey, Laura said it was found he was in “active heart failure”.

Laura said Edward then “deteriorated” in the middle of July and on July 19, he underwent open heart surgery at the Harefield Hospital in London – where he had a machine, known as a biventricular assist device (BiVAD), fitted to help pump his heart.

“He was put on the transplant list a week later and he was there until he passed away as they couldn’t get a heart for him in time,” Laura said.

Edward died on October 7 2024 as a result of multiple organ failure caused by heart failure – two days after Laura’s birthday.

During his time in hospital, it was discovered Edward had dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) – a disease of the heart muscle where the chambers become enlarged and the muscle wall becomes thinner and weaker.

“The pneumonia tipped his body over and he couldn’t deal with the heart problem we didn’t know he had,” Laura said.

She added: “My thing on TikTok is ‘I was a bride and a wife at 30, I’m now a widow at 31’ – those words should never come out of somebody’s mouth.”

Fellow widow Gabby said loved ones have since told her Tom was planning to propose in March 2025, but he “never got the chance”.

Having been together for six years, the pair purchased their first home in December 2022.

Gabby said Tom started experiencing headaches in August 2024, which the couple put down to him spending time in front of screens.

After visiting a doctor, it was found Tom had high blood pressure and he was prescribed medication to help – but he then started having chest pains in January 2025.

“He was admitted to hospital for a week on January 18 because they thought he’d had a heart attack, but it was the high blood pressure causing similar symptoms,” Gabby said.

“They got his blood pressure down and he was discharged – he was fine and he said he felt okay.”

Three days later, Gabby said she woke up in the morning and found Tom had “stopped breathing”.

“I turned on the light and just knew instantly something wasn’t right, I started doing chest compressions before the paramedics came,” she said.

“They worked on him for about 45 minutes before they made the decision they couldn’t carry on and Tom wasn’t with us.

“I was with him when they pronounced him.”

Tom had suffered with a cardiac arrest, and he died on January 28 2025 – with the cause later determined to be high hypertension and coronary heart disease.

“His heart was damaged and he’d had it for a long period – if he had full tests earlier it may have been picked up sooner,” Gabby said.

In March this year, Gabby and Laura connected with each other via TikTok, where they had both been using the platform to document their grief.

“I can’t remember who sent the first message but I followed Laura’s story and she followed mine because it’s quite nice to see someone else going through it – and the rest is history,” Gabby said.

Gabby and Laura now talk every day to navigate becoming widows in their 30s – which they say they take “one day at a time”.

“Some days you don’t want to get out of bed and see the sunshine, I just want my person back,” Laura said.

Gabby added: “I knew who I was before I was with Tom, I knew who I was while I was with him – I have no clue who I am after Tom.”

On May 2, Laura and Gabby launched a Change.org petition calling for mandatory full health checks for those aged between 25 and 35 with the aim of detecting and preventing underlying health conditions.

“If Edward and Tom had been tested earlier or they had any kind of health MOT, it would have been picked up earlier and we may have had more time with them,” Laura said.

Gabby added: “If we were to have these mandatory health checks, no one would have to go through what we’ve gone through.

“Grief and losing someone is part of life, but not at this age.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the families of Edward and Tom.

“The NHS’s life-saving health checks are targeted towards those at higher risk, preventing around 500 heart attacks and strokes every year and stopping people developing a range of diseases.

“To increase availability and uptake of the checks, we are developing a new online service that eligible people can use at home to understand their risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”

To find out more, visit their petition here: change.org/p/make-full-health-mots-mandatory-for-people-aged-25-35-to-detect-silent-conditions-early