For Emma Grey, Father's Day will be bittersweet.
She will celebrate her own father's presence. But her son, Sebastian, will not be able to share Father's Day with his own father, Emma's husband.
Four years ago, Jeff Grey died of a heart attack.
It prompted Emma to confront her own father and insist that he have the tests her husband should have had but didn't.
Emma's father, Barrie, took the tests and discovered the same cardiac problem which had ended the life of her husband with so much life yet to be lived.
Emma now urges everyone to get the checkups which will save many lives. So does Seb.
"I hate suffering and I don't want people to suffer like us," he says.
"One quick heart check - and perhaps a simple day surgery - and our family's future would have looked so different," Emma said.
"My dad was in his 80s, but he was fit and not overweight. He assumed that everything would be fine."
She kept on at him after her husband's fatal heart attack.
"Finally, my dad went to get a checkup just to shut me up.
"I'll never forget the phone call when he told me the news. He said: 'Well, I've got a 97 per cent blockage in one artery and I need to get it fixed straight away'."
I hate suffering and I don't want people to suffer like us.
Sebastian Grey
Emma drove her father to hospital.
"The great irony was that I had to take my dad in for the same surgery that would have saved Jeff's life if he had been tested," she said.
"Now, I'm always telling people to go and get their hearts checked. I don't want other children to suffer this loss and grow up without their dads."
Jeff Grey seemed like he was in the peak of health when he died.
He was one of the country's leading military historians, writing on the Korean and Vietnam wars in particular.
He came from a military family and lived in Canberra for much of his adolescence. He graduated from the ANU in 1983 then taught history at RMC Duntroon.
The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute has a mobile testing centre which stops regularly at six locations in Canberra.
The COVID-19 crisis has put the service on hold, but they are trying to arrange the next one for the coming few months.
The great benefit, according to Heart Health Check manager, Jayne Baric, is that the test is fast - men and women over the age of 18 immediately learn important information which could prevent a heart attack or stroke or help them head off diabetes.
"People are time-poor. They don't have time to go to their GP for a blood test," she said.
"With us, it's less than 10 minutes. It's a simple finger prick and the person walks away with the results."
They tell the person being tested what the results are, and whether the cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels are healthy. If not, the person is urged to go to a doctor.
The tests reveal the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke and of the onset of diabetes.
All these illnesses are avoidable with a change of diet, more exercise or medication.
The Institute says that one in 12 people have high blood pressure, one in three people have high cholesterol and one in 13 people have high blood sugar.
"Heart disease is the single biggest killer of Australians. But it can be prevented by understanding your risk factors," it says.
"While there isn't one single cause of heart disease, there are multiple types of risk factors that can significantly increase your chance of developing it. The greater number of risk factors you have, the higher your chance of having a heart attack or stroke."
