As you may or may not know, I am currently training to become a children's nurse and the decision to do this cycle has also coincided almost perfectly with some lectures on cardiology. With a bit of fresh knowledge in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain exactly what the money raised for heart research can acheive.

Have you ever heard of a 'Tetralogy of Fallot'? No. Not surprised. Its a rather dry and unattractive name for a very unforgiving congenital heart defect. I won't go into the minute details of it but basically it is a defect that some babies are born with which involves four anatomical abnormalities of the heart. This leads to blood leaving the baba's heart which has not properly picked up oxygen from the lungs. As you may imagine, this causes many adverse effects as the growing body is left with insufficient oxygen, and if there's one thing a baby needs, it is a hearty (appropriate!) supply of O2. As well as this, the heart has to pump super hard to get the blood around the body due to a malformed artery. This, as you may imagine, is a lot of strain for a wee bab's heart to be under. 25% of children born with this will die in the first year of life. Adults are not my area of expertise, but I must highlight that TOF can and does affect them too so this is a problem that can affect anyone around you, not just the young'uns.

Now I don't want this to be a cling-to-your-tissues-wipe-the-tears-from-the-keyboard moment. The conclusion that I want to get to is that scientific research has changed the prognosis for this defect incredibly. There now exists a three stage surgical intervention to correct the malformed artery that can restore a near-normal oxygen supply to the body. And by-gum is it complicated, involving expanding balloons, meshes put within the heart, insertion of stents, removal of stents, bypass machines....the list goes on. It is incredible that this stuff exists, let alone that it really can work. This can and does extend the life of many sufferers, making it possible to lead a next-to-normal life.

I have to note that there are many many heart problems that affect people and their families in all kinds of ways. TOF is just one of these and by focusing on it, I am by no means trying to take away from the other life changing heart defects and diseases that people suffer with. However, the point still remains that the money raised by events such as London-Brighton cycle WILL contribute to the development of these treatments and care interventions, such as those with TOF, that I help to care for on the wards. And here's the crux: It would be awesome if you could donate even just a couple of pounds to help push this forward and make the lives of those affected by heart disease much improved.

Thank you.