Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

After many years of dreaming about running the London marathon, I eventually plucked up the courage to enter the 2015 ballot. I’ve little running experience so this will be a huge goal of mine to be able to run the London marathon but an even bigger goal to raise awareness and money for the Cardiomyopathy association.

I found out at the age of 16 years old that I carry the gene for cardiomyopathy along with my sister and mother. Cardiomyopathy is a serious heart muscle disease which reduces the heart’s ability to contract, which can end in sudden cardiac death if the correct care is not taken. To date my family and I are healthy and we receive a full check up every five years but sadly my mother’s cousin and her children have been very poorly from the disease and all had to have pacemakers fitted at a young age. The eldest child of her family very sadly passed away at the age of 7 years old, this is what prompted doctors to test the rest of my family discovering the gene we carried.

The Cardiomyopathy Association is the only UK registered charity dedicated to provide information and support to families affected by the heart muscle disease. They provide a free helpline, support nurses, information days and a network of volunteers who provide one-to-one support. They support clinical care by funding  specialist nurses posts throughout the UK and they provide medical conferences for doctors and nurses.

The charity campaign tirelessly to improve services for affected families and create more awareness among GPs that young people can have an inherited heart condition. They push for people diagnosed with cardiomyopathy to be seen at specialist centres to receive the very best long term care and for gene testing to be more widely available as this can show who is really at risk and to be followed up appropriately or even yearly if necessary.

I feel that this is my time to do what I can to help and a way of thanking the organisation for helping to keep my family and I healthy.

Thank you so much for your support

Chloe