We've got five years, what a surprise

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.

Needless to say, this was a huge shock.  The term 'Heart Failure' seemed very final to me and as far as I was concerned my life was pretty much over.  Over the next three and a half weeks I was prodded and poked, had god knows how much blood taken from me and had scans in various different machines that invariably involved being stuffed into tubes.  I also started to slowly begin to feel better as the pills I was taking in shovel loads and rest started to do their thing alongside the wonderful care that everyone at the LGI gave me.  When I'd been admitted to the hospital I was unable to walk more than 30 ft without feeling extremely ill and having to stop and sit down. As things progressed in hospital I was able to walk further and further and was feeling stronger.  It also gave me time to reevaluate my life and what had led to me being in hospital in the first place.

Let's be honest here, I'd never really looked after myself before I was ill.  I liked a drink, smoked heavily, ate all the wrong food and the thought of exercise was laughable.  In short, my lifestyle was literally killing me.  I don't see any reason to sugarcoat this.

Anyway, the reevaluation of my lifestyle led to me making some decisions.  Booze and fags were out of the question (at least alcohol would have to become a twice a year treat as sanctioned by my doctors).  I'd need to eat better and rediscover my love of cooking.  Work-life balance would need to fundamentally change.  So, I came out of hospital in mid-September and started adjusting to the new me.

After a few months I decided I needed some sort of a challenge and so to the amazement of everyone, including myself, I decided to sign up for Parkrun with the intention of running 5k to prove to myself that I could and to raise some money for The Pumping Marvellous Foundation who I'd discovered at a research meeting I'd become involved with when recruited to a study in hospital.

Pumping Marvellous was a major turning point for me when I discovered them.  They were founded by a fellow heart failure patient.  They didn't have the attitude of the BHF booklet I'd been given in hospital that seemed to suggest I was living on borrowed time.  They were upbeat and truly focussed on the patient and helping enable us to live well and be well informed.  They were doing what they could to bring the patient perspective firmly to the front when treatment of the condition was being discussed and decided.  For me, this is what I needed and an organisation I felt I wanted to support and be a part of.

So, in April 2017 I ran my first 5K.  Well, when I say 'ran', it was a mixture of running and walking, especially up the hill in Roundhay Park.  It took me 42 minutes and Mo Farrah had no need to be fearful of the competition. But it was a massive accomplishment for me and started me on the path I am now very far down.

Over the next few years I continued running, never thinking I'd go over 5k until a friend Laura who I'd met when filming the Parallel Hearts film with Pumping Marvellous.  She convinced me that I should sign up for a 10K run, which to be honest I wasn't convinced about but took on as a new challenge.  So, I then went on to run a very hot Leeds 10K in the summer of 2018.  Surely that was it though.  There was no way I was ever going to run further than 10K. I mean, I have heart failure after all!

Hmm, well, during 2019,  after I'd walked the 192 Coast to Coast hike and run a few other 10K runs, Nick from Pumping Marvellous rang me and asked whether I'd be interested in doing the Great North Run in 2020.  A half marathon?  Me?  Surely not?  Well, my brother Mike could also run it and I knew he'd love to do it and Laura was also signed up so I couldn't really say no, could I?  The training started increasing and I was determined to do this.  Oh, did I also want to do the 100 mile Ride London?  Why not I said.

Of course, COVID put paid to the GNR, as did an achilles injury I picked up in training.  Ride London was also off, but both events were moved over to 'virtual' events where people would pick their own route to complete.  I would have to put my running on hold however due to the achilles but really started training hard on my turbo-trainer for my Virtual Ride London.  As I was doing this in Yorkshire with its big hills, I decided to do the shorter 42-mile virtual challenge (I did 55 miles in reality) and set a target for running my half marathon by the end of the year.

Which all brings me to 2021.  During the summer of 2020, Nick rang me again and dropped into the conversation the question of whether I fancied a charity place for the London Marathon.  Now, I'd always said there was no way at all I would ever run a marathon.  The very idea was just ridiculous!  Oh, Mike can have a place too can he?  Well, I know he's always wanted to do London, and it what a challenge for my 5yr post-diagnosis anniversary.

So, here I am.  In just over a month I'll be running the streets of London in the 2021 London Marathon.  I'm also down in Kings Lynn with Mike, staying at our sister Sue's house and running the Gear 10K as a short training run (10K runs as 'rest' weeks is a mad idea!).

If you can donate to our fundraiser that'd be brilliant.  The work that Pumping Marvellous do truly is second to none. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rich-and-mikes-marvellous-marathon