On the 20th December 2013, my father left work and drove home to begin the Christmas holidays. Me and my family went out for a lunch to celebrate being back together for Christmas. The first time the 5 of us had been together for a number of months. But that afternoon, my father collapsed and died from aortic dissection which caused his heart to immediately fail. At the time I was the only one present in the house with him. With my sisters and mum away, I’d be the one to call emergency services and perform CPR, trying anything to prevent the inevitable. Having to make the call to my family to get home as soon as possible further was one of the most difficult moments of my life and one that I’ll never forget.

That night my family’s lives were flipped upside down. I was 16 when I lost Dad, and I am now 26. I’ve spent 10 years processing the loss, trauma and the painful ‘what if’s’ of how our family’s lives could have played out. As we’ve tried to navigate life events, careers, education, relationships, home moves and now weddings, the thought of that missing piece of the family is always there. It’s a struggle that my family and I have experienced over the last 10 years, grief doesn’t get easier with time, but life moves on.

My father was the epitome of a family man. Dedicating his mornings, evenings and weekends to me and my sisters sporting and extra curricular activities. He was our number one fan and inspiration. He drove us to be the best versions of ourselves, to never give up and to give back whenever we could. His life was one that was cut short far too early.

This is why, 10 years after his passing I want to help make a difference. I’ll be running the 2024 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’ve set a target of raising £2023 (representing 10 years on since we lost him in 2013 + 10years). 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.

It’s a long hard road to train, prepare and run a marathon, but doing so for such a great cause in the memory for such an amazing man will drive me everyday and all the way through to the end.

Any support or donation really goes a long way to helping detect, prevent and treat heart diseases and in doing so, saving lives.

Thanks,

Chris x