I have trained for and competed in many events, starting with Manchester Marathon in 2017, at the start of my endurance event campaign, and ending with Ironman 2022.  Alongside me for many of those miles - swimming, biking and running has been my best pal and "triathlon husband", the big man to my little legs, Paul "Deaks" Deacon. 

Fast forward to early 2023 and the shock that Deaks was diagnosed with Heart Failure: completely out of the blue. Ok at first we all thought he had come up with a fine excuse not to get back on that ironman bike 🤣 but actually, for someone so fit and active to be told now his heart will protest just walking up a flight of stairs was devastating.  

And that's why this charity is so important. They very much instill a "can do" not a "can't do"attitude to those in their community. A positive outlook and assisting those, especially the young population with heart failure, in to training differently but at least getting out there and doing SOMETHING  

As a GP I have seen so many people in our post covid world be told that their heart muscle is damaged. This charity is certainly one I will be signposting people to since Deaks found it. They do great work.

Now don't think I gave the big man a free pass to just sit back and just give out the kudos on strava ! He has had to come out to help me prep for this run. So the weekend socials have made a come back, the run/bike therapy sessions and jog past the nice houses, and the coffee and cake stops.... albeit me running and Deaksy laughing as he glides past on his mountain bike, cracking the whip and of course barely raising his heart rate !  

So dig out some pennies for us. Let's get this charity and the work it does well known. And I can get my training buddy back....  

The Pumping Marvellous Foundation are driven by the needs of heart failure patients, carers and family communities we serve. We get to the real crux of the problems, the problems that patients tell us they have. Our communities are large and we have superb interactions with them, we run the largest Facebook page dedicated to Heart Failure globally so we fully understand the needs and challenges they face. We develop and distribute patient information to the vast majority of NHS Heart Failure Teams in the UK.