Hi, my name is Rich and I was diagnosed with heart failure in August 2016.  After feeling breathless and tired all the time and not being able to walk more than 20ft without needing to sit down, I was admitted to hospital with huge fluid overload and going through multiple organ failure.  I was in the Leeds General Infirmary for 4 weeks, having lots of tests and put on various medications including diuretics which led to me losing over 20 kilos in weight in excess fluid.

Once out of hospital I made serious changes to my lifestyle including taking up running and completed my first 5K park run in April 2017.   Since then, I have run five 10K races and rediscovered my love of hiking, including a hike up Mount Snowdon in September 2018.

2019 saw me tackle the 192 mile Coast to Coast hike over a two week period as part of a wider challenge to walk or run 1000 miles.  This target was smashed in July and the year saw me top 1500 miles overall.

2020  has seen me celebrate my 50th birthday at the end of January, which was something I was dubious would ever happen when I was at my most unwell.  To mark this milestone, I had planned some huge events which would have seen me complete my first half marathon, cycle 100 miles around London and Surrey amongst others.

Obviously COVID-19 has put paid to these plans, so I have had to have a rethink.  I'm still planning on running the 10ks I had planned, it'll just be on my own and on different routes.  Luckily the Great North Run has set the Great North Run Solo challenge which will see me complete 40 runs in 78 days and finishing off with the 13.1 mile Virtual Great North Run so still completng my first half marathon.

The core activities and strategy of the Pumping Marvellous Foundation are driven by the needs of heart failure patients, carers and family communities we serve. We get to the real crux of the problems, the problems that patients tell us they have. Our communities are large and we have superb interactions with them, we run the largest Facebook page dedicated to Heart Failure globally so we fully understand the needs and challenges they face. We develop and distribute patient information to the vast majority of NHS Heart Failure Teams in the UK.