Every week in the UK at least 12 apparently fit and healthy young people die of undiagnosed cardiac conditions. With your donation, CRY can reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death (YSCD) by working with cardiologists and family doctors to establish good practice and appropriate screening facilities to promote and protect the cardiac health of our young. By supporting CRY you will help save young lives from these potentially fatal cardiac conditions. See how your support can help by visiting www.c-r-y.org.uk

I had heart surgery aged 10 to correct a number of cardiac defects. I was lucky, in so much that, my conditions were identified & corrected before I suffered serious consequence. As a result I've had a healthy & fairly active life. I played competitive Football into my 40s along with Squash & other sports.

Three years ago after watching Hull City beat Southend in the cup I suffered a cardiac arrest which resulted in an electric shock restart. It was no surprise to me, I'd been complaining for a couple of months to my GP about heart palpitations & other problems. My GP had ignored my previous medical history when he concluded, only two days before, my problems were obesity & I needed to exercise.

In the following two years I needed four further restarts & had an ICD fitted. I had further, successful, corrective surgery last year & was given the go ahead to get back to living a normal life as possible. Exercise wise, my cardiologist simply said "go for it".

I signed up for this event last September to give myself a longer term objective along with time to get fitter & shift some of the excess weight I appear to have gained. It's my way of "going for it". It will be a massive challenge.

40 years ago I got lucky, many young people today are not so. 

CRY are an excellent charity that helps young people & their families deal with all aspects of cardiac conditions. They reduce the number of sudden cardiac deaths, support young people with life threatening cardiac conditions, fund screening programmes & medical research as well as offering bereavement support to families.

Please help them so they can help others.

Thanks for reading.

Ben