As some of you know, on 7th November 2023 I underwent a 7 hour open-heart operation at St Bartholomew's Hospital in Central London which helped to save my life. The operation was the culmination of many scans, tests and appointments to help fix a major heart defect. The help of both Barts Hospital and Great Ormond Street was crucial in helping to diagnose and treat my problem.

It turns out that when I was born, completely unbeknown to me, my family, or Hemel Hempstead hospital, I was born with a major heart defect called a Partial Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD). The defect was significant but I went through school, university and up to the age of 22 none-the-wiser that I had any issues at all and appeared completely symptomless.

It wasn’t until I signed-up to a medical drug trial scheme at GlaxoSmithKline whilst I was a Masters student and they performed a routine health exam that they found that something was seriously wrong. I spent the next four years (thanks Covid), going to a variety of hospitals and specialists to get a full diagnosis.

Looking back, I am incredibly lucky. Over 50% of babies born with AVSD die in infancy with a “dismal” prognosis for those who survive with an undetected AVSD like mine, passing away as a consequence of cardiac failure in their late twenties or early thirties. I was very daunted to find out before my operation that, if left untreated, my life expectancy would be at a maximum 40.

Then after a few nervous weeks in the run up to the operation I was admitted to Barts Hospital on 6th November 2023. The operation the following day, which involved full open-heart surgery via median sternotomy including heart valve reconstruction, was a complete success. Despite the long list of things that could go wrong and some shaky moments over the following 48 hours, I was discharged from the hospital a week later and enjoyed 3 months off work to fully recover - lucky me!

I am pleased to say that now, a full year later, I am fully recovered and, aside from sporting a nice long scar down my chest, feel as good as ever - and it's all thanks to the doctors, nurses and specialists at Barts Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Over the course of the 7 hours in the operating theatre, my life expectancy has doubled from 40 to 80 (pretty good return on time invested!)

Since my operation I have sworn to never take good health for granted again and have run three marathons (Brighton, Berlin, Amsterdam), ridden a 100km bike race, undertaken a triathlon and completed the ‘Swim Serpentine’ 2-mile swimming race.

I am running the London Marathon for Barts Charity not only to help raise awareness for the amazing work all the staff at the trust do, but also to help raise money to fund ground-breaking research and transformational healthcare for people in positions like mine, and beyond.

PS - my employer Deutsche Bank will very kindly match any donations £-for-£ (up to £1,000) - so please give generously! THANK YOU in advance!