Sadly my dad died suddenly a few months ago with a myocardial infarction secondary to atherosclerosis and valve incompetence. My dad was an active man whose life was taken far too soon. This could have been very different if he knew many years ago how his lifestyle and career could alter his health. My dad was a long distance lorry driver and so led a largely sedentary lifestyle driving a lorry. Back in the day he used truck stops eating fatty foods and smoked tobacco for a large proportion of those years. 20 years ago he had a TIA which scared him so he instantly stopped smoking and drastically changed his lifestyle cutting out EVERY ounce of fat and ensuring he would become fitter. He  walked, jogged and cycled at the weekend and when he parked up for the night to try to rectify his previous poor lifestyle choices. Unfortunately the damage was already done and could not be rectified. Education around lifestyle choices is something we can absolutely take from this and spread to everyone we know to prevent such tragic losses of life. I’m raising money for BHF to raise awareness of health promotion of cardiovascular disease and hoping more people change their lifestyle before it’s too late.