The average heart beats 100,000 times every day and as a competitive swimmer I know just what a crucial role it plays in allowing me to train and swim hard. The British Heart Foundation works to prevent people dying prematurely from heart disease. They do this through vital research, healthy lifestyle promotion and good support and care for sufferers that live with heart disease. One example of BHF resources in action has been in the fight for faster treatment for heart attack patients which has led to a massive increase in survival rates.
Hearts have a very special link to my family. Six years ago my Auntie Caroline died from a congenital heart condition (something she’d had since birth). These kind of conditions range from simple problems to complicated abnormalities with serious outcomes. Auntie C's problems were on the more complex side, but she was amazingly brave – and always great fun. I still miss her and wish she could have seen me grow up and been there through the ups and downs of the recent years. Her courage and enthusiasm for life are an inspiration to me and I know this will help push me on when the Channel gets tough.
Then last year, just as I was planning to do the swim, my Grandma learned that she had an aortic aneurism. The aorta is the main blood vessel from the heart – and hers had enlarged to twice its usual size, putting it at risk of rupturing at any moment. This put a stop to my grandparents' trip to France: they were due to visit me when I was working in the ski resort.
Anyway, last summer Grandma had open heart surgery and has, thank goodness, made a great recovery. Her family has a history of high blood pressure so now I’m encouraging her to walk regularly and persuading her that raising her heart rate is a good thing!