Well as many of my friends and family know I had sudden heart failure and nearly left my wife without a husband and my kids without a dad. Unfortunately the science to stop my heart becoming worse does not exist and I have undergone a heart transplant to extend my life expectancy. Again the heart transplant is not a cure and the average life span after a heart transplant is around 13 years. This has changed my world completely, from having to take immunosuppressant medications, avoid certain foods/not eat at specific times, to wearing masks in busy places; the list of changes goes on. I have got to a place where my fitness is now improving and I am starting to do things that I have not been able to do for a while, like walking, cycling, swimming and running. Each one of these comes with its own challenges to me as the nervous system is cut to my new heart due to the nature of the procedure, which means it works on adrenaline and other hormones. I have to warm up/cool down carefully, keeping a steady pace whilst running at the moment is difficult, my runs consist of slow jogs and fasts walks, so for me 5k will not be easy! I’m starting to look at going back to work part time and take on other challenges in the future. The main reason for me to do this is to make people aware of hidden heart conditions, as this can effect anyone no matter what age or gender. I’m doing this also to show that if research had not been conducted in the past I would not be here today with my family. There are people going through the same as I did right now not knowing if they will be as lucky as me. I’m hoping with some support and if possible a donation from you we can help the British heart foundation. The BHF has helped halve the number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease in the UK but sadly every day hundreds of people lose their lives. It's only thanks to support from people like us that the BHF can create new treatments and discover new cures. £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps so please give what you can to help me hit my target.

I couldn’t have got here without my wife and family, and I couldn’t have done this without my donor and he will always be my hero and never forgotten.

Many thanks

Paul