I am taking on the British Heart Foundation Walk for Hearts challenge throughout February to help fund lifesaving research. My goal is to walk 50 miles in February.

Out of the blue, my daughter, Maria suffered a cardiac arrest in August 2023. Thankfully she survived due the quick actions of her fiancée Jamie, who administered CPR until paramedics arrived and restarted Maria’s heart. She received wonderful treatment at St George’s Hospital in Tooting and had an internal defibrillator fitted. Subsequently it was found that Maria had inherited a faulty gene which caused Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Investigations showed that she inherited the gene from me and I also suffer from DCM, and have gone on to have an internal defibrillator fitted.

Although Maria’s life has been changed by her condition, she survived because Jamie was able to perform CPR, a skill everyone should have, of the skills of the doctors and nurses that treated her and the ongoing research being done by BHF. We, as a family are eternally grateful.

I want to raise money to help fund BHF research and would be so grateful if you could consider sponsoring me

Every three minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease. With your support, British Heart Foundation can power research that will enable people to live longer, healthier lives.