My name is Barry Newman and I was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy in 2014. Before I got ill I was planning on attempting to break a 24 hour Karting world record. I caught a virus in my heart that caused severe heart failure I was told I needed a heart transplant as the virus had caused my heart to only be working at 13% so my dream of breaking the record was never going to happen. I discovered an amazing charity via the One Show in 2017. The charity was the Hearts Cells Foundation who work to fix broken hearts like mine using your own stem cells. I had the procedure in November 2018 and my life has been utterly transformed from not being able to get out of bed to holding down a physical job and living my life well. Because of the miraculous treatment and my heart's response to this the dream of breaking the record can once again become a reality.

The Heart Cells Foundation do astonishing work transforming lives like mine with research and procedures but it is a charity so all the costs have to be raised to fund the work. Hopefully one day this treatment will be available on the NHS but until it has gone through lengthy scruitinisation it remains public funded. I, as a patient would like to help them to be able to have this available on the NHS for whoever needs it, maybe you or your loved ones in the future by raising awareness and valuable funds.

So 4 years after my treatment I am going to get even fitter to attempt this record and raise as much money as possible.