Hayley Brown
Living with long QT syndrome I was 19 years old and had just failed my second driving test when my first and only attack happened. I ran through the garden and into the house where my mum was waiting nervously. I told her that I had failed and then went on to tell her I […]
Fraser Thomas
Living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy I am one of the few lucky parents as my son, Fraser, survived a full cardiac arrest while playing football last year. He had no previous symptoms or illness and was saved thanks to two medical students who happened to be playing football that day and also a mobile defibrillator that […]
Julia Hubbard
Living with right ventricular outflow tract ventricular tachycardia (RVOT-VT) I have represented Great Britain in Bobsleigh since 2006 and In October 2007 I crashed in a race and sustained fractured vertebrae and tore all the ligaments in my thoracic spine. I was out of the sport for the rest of the season while I recovered […]
Russell Goodman
Living with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and an undiagnosed condition A healthy way to start the weekend, get up Saturday morning and go for a run. This was something my fiancée Charlotte and I enjoy regularly, sick this one however was very different. After being out for just over an hour running the streets […]
Pacemakers
Pacemakers electrically stimulate your heart to make it contract and produce a heartbeat. They differ from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) in that they do not have the ability to give your heart an electric shock. Pacemakers can be helpful if you have problems with the electrical activity in your heart which causes it to beat […]
Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT)
Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a rare condition that has been associated with two genes that make proteins found inside the cell – the human ryanodine receptor (a calcium ion channel) and calsequestrin (a protein that interacts with the calcium channel). These regulate the release of calcium ions into the rest of the cell. […]
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)
In dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) the main pumping chambers of the heart are dilated and contract poorly. This results in a reduced volume of blood (low output) pumped around the body which fails to meet the body’s demand and features of what is commonly known as heart failure. There is a build up of fluid in […]
Long QT syndrome (LQTS)
Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an ion channelopathy. Ion channelopathies (also sometimes referred to as arrhythmia syndromes or cardiac channelopathies)affect the electrical functioning of the heart without affecting the heart’s structure. They are a group of rare genetic conditions that are caused by abnormalities of the DNA known as mutations. They are usually inherited from parents although they can occur for the first time in a person. (If they occur for the first time they are described as sporadic.)