I'm raising money for the British Heart Foundation because my sister died from cardiac arrest at the age of 32 and I'd be so grateful for your support. My challenge is called 32 for you, as I approach the age my sister was when she passed, I have a lot of negative feelings towards turning 32 and outliving Rhi, it really does not sit right and I would like to turn this milestone into raising awareness for Rhi rather than getting all doom and gloom about it.

32 Marathons

32 Days

Starting on 32nd Birthday

As many of you know, my sister Rhian passed away last March, aged 32. Rhi went into hospital with heart palpitations, something pretty normal for her since the start of Covid.

She did everything right, went for all her check ups, went for tests etc. she was very much the A* patient.

On March 10th Rhi messaged the family group ‘not to panic you all but my heart is playing up again’ she went on throughout the day messaging and bantering (classic Rhi) keeping us updated. They decided to keep her in overnight to keep an eye on her, she messaged us at 21.15 saying how bored she was.

At 2.15AM on the 11th March, Mum rang me in floods of tears saying ‘Rhian is unresponsive, you need to get to hospital’ naively I thought unresponsive meant that she just needed to be slapped around the cheeks and she’d come back around….how wrong I was.

We arrived at Wythenshawe hospital and were asked to wait in the smallest room, a nurse came in and told us the doctors were still working on her. Is she still breathing? I asked, they’ve gone to get a tube from ICU she said. We sat in the tiny room in silence in what felt like forever, around 10 minutes later two doctors walked in the room, I remember every single thing about them from her mismatched cartoon socks to his glasses.….'she didn’t make it' is all I remember hearing.

Rhi was a beautiful, fit, bubbly, healthy 32 year old living her absolute best life. She loved a dance, a bev, walking the dogs, going out for food, she loved Wales and her family more than anything. She was the most generous and goofiest person I was lucky enough to call my sister.

Rhi died of Cardiac Arrest. The post mortem results concluded that she had myocarditis.

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, usually following a virus. Some people have no symptoms, but it can cause chest pains, palpitations and shortness of breath.

Most people will recover without any lasting effects. But in rare cases, if the inflammation is severe, myocarditis can scar the heart muscle. This damage means the heart has to work harder to pump blood and oxygen around the body. In some cases, this can result in the heart muscle becoming bigger, and over time, weaker....resulting in death.

I feel it is my duty to spread awareness as one young person dies suddenly each week due to undiagnosed myocarditis.

What I find frustrating is that every time Rhi felt something was wrong, she went to go get checked, did all the tests etc. but they couldn't detect it....this needs to change. Nobody deserves to witness seeing their loved one dancing on the tables one minute and lying lifeless on a hospital bed the next.

Not only do I want to raise awareness for Myocarditis, I also want to make talking about death and grief acceptable. Since losing Rhi, a lot of people go so awkward or avoid me and my family just because they don't want to mention her...more fool them. Unfortunately, death is inevitable and having people to speak openly to about loss who understand loss, really is a luxury. I really see this challenge as an opportunity to Rhi-member those no longer with us and celebrate their lives.

It would mean the world if you could help me raise money and spread awareness for this cruel but preventable disease.