GWENT teenager Claire Muggeridge's unexpected death due to epilepsy was among 1,000 such fatalities every year in the United Kingdom.

Now her parents Graeme and Christine, of Garn Road, Nantyglo are backing calls for action to cut the death toll.

Epilepsy Bereaved, a charity which believes up to 400 SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) deaths a year are preventable, has launched a Wales-based charity. The key is improving access to adequate services, but waiting times in Wales are above national guidelines, and there is a lack of specialist staff.

Claire, 17, a Brynmawr Comprehensive School pupil, died at Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, on February 22 2004, hours after her second seizure.

Mr and Mrs Muggeridge will never know if her death was preventable, but are sure that had they known about SUDEP, they would have pushed their daughter's case harder following her first seizure, six months earlier, on holiday in Spain.

After returning home Claire, who had sat her GCSEs and was staying on at school, had tests which came back normal. Her parents were told that if she had another seizure she was to return to hospital.

Her second seizure occurred late on Saturday, February 21, 2004, in her bedroom.

"We went to accident and emergency at Nevill Hall and she was admitted, to see a consultant in the morning," said Mrs Muggeridge.

"She hadn't even been diagnosed because until then she had not seen a consultant. We left early on the Sunday morning and she seemed back to her normal self.

"She'd been nagging for driving lessons and her provisional licence came on the Saturday. One of the last things she said to me was to remember to ring the driving instructor. She died in her sleep."

The SUDEP Project, launched today seeks to raise awareness of ways of reducing the health risk of people with epilepsy and to support families.

"People should know about this because it's like, unless you have two or three seizures you do not seem to be taken seriously," said Mrs Muggeridge.

"If I'd known about SUDEP, I would have pushed harder after her first seizure. It must be highlighted. We don't want other families going through this."

Mr Muggeridge praised the support from Epilepsy Bereaved as "marvellous."