So, at the beginning of this year my wonderful Husband was diagnosed with heart failure.  We sat in a tiny cubicle in a side room marked "heart failure unit" before we knew what the problem was...with lots of people around us, lots of noise and had to take in the life changing news that Stew had a super poorly heart and that it might never get better.  The room was hot, very public and there was barely space for all of us to sit and chat.  The team within the unit are totally awesome, but their facilities are inadequate.... no one should have to have the kind of conversations that we had sitting between 2 other families in similar situations but different stages.  

The solution is clear to me... the Heart Failure unit in Southampton needs to be moved into better facilities with space and resources to help all families like ours.  Heart failure isn't uncommon... it is incurable.  There is no solution yet.  I'm confident in our life time that the cure will come and that our family will get our happy ever after, but in the mean time I feel like there is something that I can do to help make this situation more comfortable for the families like ours.  Wessex heart beat are launching a campaign to raise money to provide a new heart failure unit, and I passionately support this campaign.

Our journey continued this year when Stew collapsed on our family holiday in cornwall.... things all went a little bit "Padstow" as the team adamson phrase goes, as stew successfully avoided taking me to rick steins seafood restaurant (you know... the posh expensive one!).  It became clear that the heart was getting worse, and the cause this time was a super leaky aortic valve.  He was admitted for emergency open heart surgery to correct this.... for the whole of June... and once again Wessex heart beat illustrated the difference they make to lives.  Stew was admitted to the Young Adult cardiac unit (Ha... we thought it was hilarious too!! stew is neither young nor an adult!) which had been recently refurbished.  

The reasons soon became clear.... most people with heart problems are elderly and so spending the length of time that they are in surrounded by very elderly people is hard. Stew has always been a healthy active person, and i'd never given any thought to illness impacting the heart.... but it doesn't discriminate.... it just sucks!   In the Young Adult ward, stew could chat to other people of a similar age and understand what was about to happen to him.  The main thing for us was access to a lounge, away from the beds with a tv and space to chill or relax and chat.  Here we were able to spend time as a family away from the sick people! it was a horrendous time for all of us, but without this space provided by wessex heartbeat it undoubtably would have been more difficult.

Stew is recovering well, and we are now motivated to help Wessex Heartbeat reach their goal of providing a new heart failure unit.... so thanks for reading this, and I hope you can support me and the lovely Sarah Banks.  Sarah is risking life and limb and being "motivated" by me to get to the finish line!