This page is lovingly dedicated to Brendan Joseph Anderson- my Father, my Best Friend and my Guardian Angel. My inspiration.

On Friday 20th December 2013 I went out for a family lunch, the first one with all five of us present for months. After a lovely, lighthearted, enjoyable meal, I said goodbye to my family as I left for a ball that evening and just an hour later I received a phone call informing me of the news. My wonderful Dad, the greatest man I have ever known, had passed away suddenly at home. The world literally stopped around me, and the next few days and weeks are a mere blur to me now. Since then, every single day has been a real struggle; but for every day that has gone by, I have also gained more strength and more focus to continue my life with, and to make a positive change.

Dad passed away from an extremely rare defect in his heart that affects only 0.002% of people. The weakness lay undetected in his heart showing no symptoms and no warning signs. A deformity in the thoracic aorta led to a laceration in the aortic arch, which then flooded the heart with blood and stopped it almost instantaneously. He was a perfectly healthy man with a passionate zest for life and, after a perfect couple of hours together with his whole family, just a few days before Christmas, his time came and it was far too soon.

THIS is why I want to make a difference. On Sunday 26th April 2015 I will be running the Virgin London Marathon for Heart Research UK. Heart Research UK provides money to fund pioneering research across a broad scope of cardiac issues encompassing the unknowns, the preventatives as well as the cures and the charity has become, understandably, extremely special to me. By providing significant pledges towards these research projects, Heart Research UK is at the forefront of developing cures for conditions that are currently terminal and untreatable as well as developing groundbreaking medicine to prevent cardiac problems before they even arise.

Heart Research UK also pledges money towards developing effective techniques to scan for cardiac problems, using heart imaging as well as different types of scans. Although some scanning procedures already exist, they are not 100% effective and the charity wants to change this. Research will provide the opportunity to develop the ability to accurately detect damaged areas of the heart, allowing specialists to asses the severity of cardiac and arterial weaknesses and monitor them, meaning patients will benefit more quickly from successful treatment. Having a truly effective way to scan for all kinds of heart problems and defects could have been the one thing needed in order to save my Dad, but unfortunately this kind of medicine still has a substantial amount of development to be achieved, which is why Heart Research UK benefits from every single penny donated to them.

I have set myself the target of raising, and hopefully surpassing, the amount of £2012.13 (the date of Dad's passing). If I can raise this amount then I know it will be an extremely significant contribution towards an innovative research project that could ultimately save thousands of lives in the future, and it could save a life important to you. 

Looking at actual figures really do make it hit home and let you realise just how potent cardiac illnesses are in our society today:

• Around 1 in 4 deaths that ever occur are attributed to a cardiac problem
  
• Every 7 minutes someone dies from a heart attack in the UK
  
• 1 in 3 people who suffer some from of heart attack die before they even reach hospital
• Heart disease is responsible for 74,000 deaths each year in the UK alone, that’s around 200 people every single day
• Over 75,000 people are living with some form of heart failure in the UK right now, and any of their hearts could deteriorate in an instant
  

If the money I raise detects just one heart defect, gives one diagnosis or saves one life and one family from being exposed to the agony of bereavement, like myself and my family have had to endure, then I will find tremendous strength in that. The road to completing this marathon will be so tough, both physically and emotionally, but I will do it. I will use the new found strength I get every single day and put it all into the fundraising, training and marathon itself. My Dad really is my inspiration, and I just want to make him proud.

Every single penny you can donate really will be hugely appreciated by Heart Research UK and by myself and my family too. Even if you cannot donate please please share my page- the more awareness we raise about cardiac irregularities, the more lives we can save together.

Thank you,

Torz x

‘We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey’  ~Kenji Miyazawa