The Curse

For generations, young, seemingly healthy people were mysteriously dying on the Canadian island of Newfoundland.

They dropped dead doing normal everyday things like eating dinner, walking across the beach or shovelling snow. Locally, it became known as The Newfoundland Curse and it has been terrorising families for centuries.

It turns out that these families have a rare genetic heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy, or ACM for short. If left untreated, ACM will kill 80% of the men who have it by the time they are 50 and, until recently, it was practically undetectable.

In 1995, genetic counselor Dr Kathy Hodgkinson was introduced to The Curse. Determined to understand why this was happening, she made it her mission to uncover the truth with the goal of ending it once and for all.

Produced & Sound Designed by Rebecca Nolan

Executive Producer & Editor: Dennis Funk

Mix Engineer: Jeff Emtman

Photo: Oak Mountain

Produced for Inside Science on BBC Radio 4

Listen at Written in Air’s website if you’re outside the UK