Five years ago today I was lying in a hospital bed in St. James's hospital in Leeds where I was very ill. I'd been in for a few days having tests and not really knowing what was wrong with me and what the future held. While I was laying there a new group of doctors and nurses from the ones I'd already seen came to talk to me and over the next 20 minutes it was explained that I had a condition called Heart Failure and my heart was pumping at around 10% and my body was going through multi-organ failure because of the strain this was putting on the rest of my body. I was to be urgently transferred to the Cardiology ward at the Leeds General Hospital in a blue lighted ambulance and was given some booklets about the condition from the British Heart Foundation which told me the condition was degenerative and that I was likely to be dead within five years.
It's been some time since I put an update on here. It's not that I've not had any news to share with people, but more that I've been so busy I've not found teh time to sit down and get a blog post written. I guess that the continued COVID lockdowns haven't helped either as days and weeks do have a habit of merging into one.
What a year this is turning out to be. It started with so many big plans. Great North Run, Ride London, various 10Ks, hitting the 50 Park Run target, Snowdon, Yorkshire Three Peaks and all to celebrate my 50th birthday. Well, obviously COVID-19 put paid to pretty much all of it. To cap it all off I then injured my back then not long after that recovered my Achilles tendon started playing up. The main thing though is that those close to me are safe and well. The Achilles will heal, I've done a 55mile virtual Ride London in the roads north of Leeds and I'll get the half marathon in once I'm fully mobile again so shouldn't really complain. My experience of living with heart failure has been far less difficult than most people's and for that, I'm extremely grateful. We've lost some good people to the condition this year and there is a real risk that the after-effects of COVID-19 will see more people have to adjust to living with damaged hearts due to way it's been compromised when ill.
It's taken a while to know what I wanted to write about in this post and those that will follow. It's not that I've been at a loss for what I have to say, but more that I haven't known what I want to put out in the public sphere. Of course, I'm talking about Coronavirus and the impact it is having on both myself and everyone else whether they be family, friends, people that are out there trying to make sure we all get through this or everyone else. Like many of you, I have so many conflicting feelings that it's hard to filter them and organise them into any semblance of reality, so if this ends up going into a disjointed ramble please excuse me.
Well, it's happened, and I've entered my 50th year! Not quite sure where the last half-century has gone, and let's face it, there have been times where I seriously doubted whether I'd ever actually get to this birthday. I certainly never thought that I'd be marking the occasion by planning my running, hiking and cycling for the year and concentrating on the training needed to make sure I'm fit enough for the events I'm booked in for.
It's hard to believe that we are entering a new decade, especially as I'll be 50 at the end of the month. It doesn't feel more than a few years since we moved to Rome back in 1999, but when I look back over the past 20 years, so much has happened. We've moved countries three times, including the move back to the UK. I've completely changed career, and of course, my life has been fundamentally changed by my heart failure diagnosis in 2016. Even in the three and a half years since my diagnosis things have changed massively. I refuse to look at the experiences I've had as anything other than positive. Yes, being as ill as I was, was a huge shock, but it has led to being the fittest I've ever been, becoming involved with Pumping Marvellous and being made a trustee of the charity and all that does with that. Speaking at conferences, helping in the decision-making process to get our message out and make a difference. I've also had the opportunity to be involved in research projects, both as a participant and also as a member of the steering group that helps to guide the project while it's being run. This year I'm also part of the main project team for a new study that is being considered for funding. All in all, these things can only be described as exciting, and not something I would have had the opportunity to be involved in had I not become ill.
It’s almost time for me to head off on my biggest challenge so far, just one week until I set off from St Bees Head in Cumbria on my 192 mile trek across country to Robin Hoods Bay over on the east Coast of Yorkshire. Where the time has gone since Ruth suggested this is anyone's guess, but it’s involved a lot of hard work making sure I’m fit enough and trying to condition my legs for what I’m sure will be an exhausting but totally exhilarating experience!
It’s been a few months since my last post so it’s time to bring everyone up to date with how things are going, both in general and more specifically for my 1000 miles in 2019 challenge and training for my Coast to Coast walk.
Why do I get myself into these messes? It's now only four months until I set off from St Bees in the Lake District towards Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire, following Alfred Wainwright's 192 mile Coast to Coast Walk. This is part of my 1000 mile in 2019 challenge which, as it says in the title, is me waling and running 1000 miles this year. The reasons I'm doing this are threefold; firstly to raise funds for Pumping Marvellous who have been an amazing source of support since my diagnosis with heart failure in 2016, secondly to help raise awareness of heart failure of which there will be more later, and thirdly to prove to myself that I can do this. The 1000 miles itself isn't too bad, after all it's less than 3 miles a day and I hope to at least do double the target, but the Coast to Coast is 15days without a rest day walking between 8 and 25 miles a day and a total ascent of 10km which is higher than Mount Everest.
I’m starting my 2019 fundraising early, but it’s planned to be a big one. I’ve worked myself up from 5K to 10K (two this year) to climbing mountains and rediscovering my love of hiking so when I was thinking what I would do in 2019 I decided it needed to be something big. The idea of doing the Coast to Coast walk seemed ideal, but what about the rest of the year?
After starting off with a 5K Parkrun in 2017, and progressing to my first 10K run earlier this year to climbing Snowdon over the summer I have decided to really ramp things up in 2019.
I can’t quite believe that it’s already two years since I received my diagnosis of heart failure, yet in other ways it’s hard to imagine life any other way now. I remember the shock of being told I had this condition and not having a clue what it meant, but I also look back at all I have learnt since and all the changes I’ve made since that day. Yes, there are things I miss about the old me, like my ability to be out socially for more than a couple of hours on an evening before needing to come home and go to sleep. But then I also look at all the new things I’m doing that I really enjoy. Obviously there is the big one, running, which I never thought I’d be doing, and all the health care related services I’ve become involved in (giving something back to the NHS and beyond) but also things I’ve rediscovered like hiking.
Where does the time go? Easter already and it’s been nearly 8 months since I last posted. Life has been busy with so many things going on both with work and more enjoyable things (although I love my job and am extremely lucky to have a good job that gives me flexibility).
So, today is the big one. A year since my diagnosis. Many people wouldn't want to think about it but for me it's a happy day. Hell I'm still here for one and I'm not feeling too bad at all, so why not celebrate?
Yes, it's a Happy Anniversary to me! A year ago today I stopped smoking and haven't looked back once. I'd wanted to give up for quite a few years and had various failed attempts, some lasting a few days, some a few months but I'd never really felt like a non smoker. This time it's different. I really do not want to smoke and haven't since waking up on the 29th July 2016.
So, it's been a while since my last post and things have been busy. I've been keeping my running up but am having problems with my right knee meaning it seizes up when it's immobile for any time especially for a few days after a longish run. Pretty sure it's just while I'm building muscle up in my legs so no way will it get in the way. I've also managed to damage my rotator cuff (muscles in the shoulder joint) so am having to do daily weight exercises to build up muscle and keep it flexible. It bloody hurts at times but far better than it was when I first saw the physio.
So, Friday the 5th of May is European Heart Failure Awareness Day. I bet most of you didn't know that. I had certainly never heard about it before I was diagnosed with the condition. Around Europe there are events aimed at rasing the awareness of Heart Failure and what it means for those of use living with the condition. Hopefully it means a higher level of exposure for the condition which I feel is not as well publicised as other illnesses. I in no way want other conditions to be thought any less of but I would like for heart failure to be recognised for the debilitating and widespread condition it is. If you are looking for any events connected with the day then head off over to https://www.escardio.org/Sub-specialty-communities/Heart-Failure-Association-of-the-ESC-(HFA)/Advocacy-&-Awareness/heart-failure-awareness-day
Well, I've done it! On Saturday I ran my first 5K parkrun and in the process raised nearly £700 for the heart failure charity, Pumping Marvellous. I'm not going to lie and say it was the easiest thing I've ever done because I've been hobbling around ever since with sore and stiff legs and a painful knee but hopefully this is the beginning of something new that will get easier as time goes on.
Whoop de do! We are having a General Election. I can hardly remember the last election. Oh hang on, there was that referendum last year, and the last general election the year before. It's hard to keep up especially when the current PM assured us she wasn't going to call an early election and that she would abide by the fixed term parliament act. I mean, we all believed her didn't we? The way she traded on Thatchers's 'this woman isn't for turning' legacy (god help us!). MInd you, she probably gets her definition of telling the truth from the same dictionary as her predecessor who assured us that he would stick around if the country voted to leave the EU. That worked well didn't it?
That's it. I've obviously gone mad. Why's that Rich? I hear you all call (ok, I don't but you get the idea). After 40 odd years of avoiding as many forms of exercise as possible, I've started running and going to the gym. The way I figure it is this. I've had to give up some things I enjoyed like drinking beer (I'll hasten to add that no, I was and have never been an alcoholic, I just enjoyed the taste of beer, and red wine, and whisky and other alcoholic beverages). Anyway, as I can't do these things anymore I may as well make the most of it and attempt to get fit. Obviously I spoke to my cardiologist about this and my heart failure nurse and they both agreed that I'm well enough to start working out. I've joined a gym and will be doing my first park run in just over a week (people that know me have been spammed with my fundraising for the Pumping Marvellous Foundation over on Facebook).
Ok, so I've finally got this site up after some planning and some false starts. My journey with heart failure has been a bit of a learning curve, both about the condition but also getting to learning about myself again. In many way I'm still the same person but in others I'm very diffferent. The obvious things that have changed are that I no longer drink (well, apart from a couple at Christmas and my birthday as allowed by my cardiologist).
