I lost Mum, Grandad, Gran, my Aunt, my Uncle & my Sister to heart disease. My Brother was saved due to fitting of an arterial stent. 

I am Mike Page, 67 from Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. I'm a C A.B.G, taking part in the London Marathon, after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass (Cardio Arterial, Bypass Graft -CABG x4) 6 years ago.

‘The surgery has saved my life, I want to give something back and show how effective surgery can be. 

I've been active most of my life, Football, Hockey, Rugby, still playing cricket and hill walking regularly up to the age of 60 and I had completed a Millenium Way 100 mile walk in 5 days, so... relatively fit for my age.

Then I started getting chest pains whilst out walking, The first time it happened I’d been walking for about 2 hours before I experienced any pain, the next time it was after an hour, then 20 minutes; eventually I couldn’t walk more than 20 yards without pain in my chest. 

My GP at Hastings House Surgery sent me straight to Warwick hospital, where they carried out an angiogram which showed all 4 arteries were blocked. The angiogram also showed that my capillary tubes had grown larger and had effectively grown a fifth artery, something that likely saved my life. I was referred to a cardiologist at Walsgrave Hospital Coventry and was told I’d have to undergo a heart bypass, 

Although I never considered that anything like this could happen to me, I was fairly accepting of the situation. After all, not much I could do but put my life in their hands. I was more worried for my wife and the rest of my family. 

The surgeons were amazing, surgery was a success and I made a quick recovery. with a lot of help from Physiotherapists and some inevitable lifestyle changes; saturated fats, salt and sugar were out, and healthy food and exercise were in. I think the fact I was relatively fit had a huge impact in my recovery.

This is the first time I’ve taken part in a full Marathon, having only ever run one half marathon at Blenheim Palace 3 years ago for BHF. So It's a daunting prospect.

I'll be raising money through sponsorship for my challenge.. I hope that my completing the London Marathon will show others how effective this type of heart surgery and lifestyle change can be and give something back so the research can continue making science fiction into science fact.

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. £26 ( thats just £1 per mile) 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. Thanks and wish me luck... I'm gonna need it!