Heart Attack to 10K (part 4.27) - Giving it all my Heart & Soul

Part 4.27 - GIVING IT ALL MY HEART & SOUL

(Phase VI - sustaining a healthy life-style)

"Nothings going to happen unless you make it happen."

It's been awhile since I last gave any thought to writing another blog, mainly because there hasn't really been that much to report and it's always difficult to get started on a new topic.

Having said that (and probably not of the greatest of general interest), I have for some time been considering writing and explaining about my obsession and why I keep 'championing' a local charity that keeps cropping up throughout this series of blogs, becoming a big part of my whole rehabilitation story. A charity that left a lasting impression on me since first hearing about it during a talk given by one of the charity trustee's, Steve Wildman, during my second round of cardiac rehabilitation classes back in 2017.

Back in those days the cardiac rehab. exercise sessions where supplemented by a couple of afternoons where the patients were given educational talks on such topics as 'how the heart works', 'managing stress and anxiety', 'heart disease risk factors', 'physical activity and exercise', 'medicines to protect your heart' and 'eating for a healthy heart'. These are now held as short bite size conclusions at the end of the each of the 6 exercise sessions every patient attends, which is probably a better format as you are already there.

For me, this required taking time off work which was a little inconvenient so during my first round of rehab in 2013, I sat them out. However, having suffered a heart attack I was more determined to take on board any advice available that might help guilde me to make better decisions to prevent a re-occurrence, so I made a determined effort to attend the classes in April 2017.

It was during one of these sessions that Steve gave his talk about his own heart experience, how he coped with life after a cardiac event and how the charity, 'Hearts & Souls' that is run by ex-patients, supported the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust cardiac rehabilitation team by holding fund raising events with aim to provide recovering patients with one of the best cardiac rehab. services in the NHS.

Back then, the main fund raiser was the 'London Bridges' walk held each October; this gave me the ideal opportunity not to just show my gratitude to the fantastic help and support I had received from the rehab team, but also set a goal to walk about 13 miles to work towards improved fitness levels.

For the 2017 walk I was accompanied by my daughter Kaitlyn and it was a privilege for both of us to join in such good mix of former patients and cardiac staff for an excellent walk on a bright sunny day, the bonus was raising an unexpected £1,797.00 through sponsorships. This proved to be just the start of a fund raising quest over the next few years, each becoming slightly more challenging as my fitness levels improved which I accredited to the confidence and self-belief I first regained through the cardiac rehab.

The London Bridges walk was followed by: 

• In 2018 I took part in the Hearts & Souls organised Thames Valley walk and raised £220.00
• In 2019 I ran in the Ridge Off Roader 10K trail run (scene of my heart attack), my first race since 1993 Wycombe half marathon and raised £1,444.00
• In 2020 I ran the Maidenhead half marathon course with the maximum group of friends allowed (the event being cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions) and raised £1,143.00
• In 2024 I walked 14.2 miles from Harefield hospital to Wycombe hospital (the two sites where I was treated following my heart attack) and raised £1,610.00
• In 2025 I completed my 250th parkrun and raised £145.00

In all, it is very pleasing to have raised £6,359.00 for Hearts & Souls over the 6 events. I must pass on my grateful thanks to everyone who has contributed any of the above events but particularly to my then employers Instron who made generous donations to four of these events. Kaitlyn continued to support me throughout most of these madcap schemes and has since become a big supporter of the charity herself.

On the back of my fund-raising efforts I was invited to join the Hearts & Souls committee and became a trustee of the charity in 2021, initially helping with the web site. The charity, which is run by volunteers all who have graduated through the rehab (so fully understand and appreciate the benefits provided by this service), is little known outside those who have passed through the programme, meaning that most donations are generated from this source. The very nature of the charity means that most are either elderly or recovering from ill health - not very favourable for taking on any energetic fund raising challenges!

I set out as my goal to increase the profile of the charity within the local community, hopefully improving awareness to discover new income streams from those looking to support local good causes and not solely relying on those who are just still recovering from a cardiac event.

This really came to my attention soon after joining parkrun when I started jogging with 'Your Pace or Mine' (facebook group), a local running group. Most of these members would regularly run local 10K's, half-marathon's and such like raising money for various charities and good causes, it seemed to me that Hearts & Souls were missing out as no one even knew the charity existed, let alone that it was possibly secretly helping their neighbours or friends!

When I joined, the committee consisted of three fairly elderly gentlemen who had already been keeping the charity going for at least the last 10 years and it was at a time when we were just coming out of Covid. During this period the demand on the charity had decreased dramatically as rehab was partially put on hold bringing into question the very need for the charity, but there were some early signs of recovery as a the service started to re-establish itself.

With the unfortunate passing of the then Chairman, Steve Wildman (the man who first introduced me to the charity), I was elected to fill his position in 2023, this was mainly because there was no-one else available. Though not something I was particularly seeking, from my personal experience I had found this to be a vital service helping to restore a patient’s confidence to return to a normal active life following cardiac hospitalisation, so I was happy to take on this role. I fully support the aims of charity to provide the best service possible and didn't want the local community to risk losing it; I just hope that I can do justice to the trust placed in me.

Over the next couple of years as the charity was still trying to redefine its purpose, the remaining old guard both retired leaving the charity at a bit of a crossroads, potentially leaving just myself on the executive committee. However, thankfully both Tim and Andy came in to fill the gaps naturally vacated which rejuvenated the charity at a time where we were starting to see a renewed requests on our funds, including the purchase of various pieces of exercise equipment and funding towards staff training. Further new recruits joined the committee in John who took over the treasurer position, followed by Lynn and lead cardiac nurse Lisa who help to stabilise and form a new committee giving us an enthusiastic team as we look to become more proactive and I now feel far more optimistic for the future.

Luckily, we inherited a fairly healthy bank balance mainly due to the reduced funding throughout Covid which has given us some leeway as John looks create a proper budget plan to take us into the future, working out what the likely demand will be on our resources and how best to cover that outlay through expected donations and/or fund raising. Over the past couple of years, on top of a small but regular number of monthly donors (thank you for your continued support), we have been fortunate enough to have received several substantial one-off donations, mainly from individuals or groups who have directly or indirectly benefited from the rehab. This has helped us to maintain our bank balance during the transitional period, but whether we can continue rely on these donations on a year by year basis is a bit of an unknown.

 

As I mentioned earlier, part of my goal is to improve our awareness within the local community and this is where Kaitlyn has been a great assistance, reviving our social media platforms and web presence and finding and helping out at several events as we reach out into the community. She has also been instrumental as we relaunched the charity through a rebranding, helping come up with a new modern clean and recognisable logo that will be better for printing on promotional merchandise .... 'a new design for a new beginning'. 

Personally don't like to see donations that are given in good faith to support the rehab team then spent on what I see as vanity projects. As part of reaching out into the community we had a need for gazebo for the outdoor events and this presented the opportunity to the charity really stand out in the crowd, Kaitlyn again came good helping to secure a grant from 'Red Kite Community Housing' to help cover the cost of this purchase, this now greatly enhances our presence at outdoor events.

So in conclusion, my obession was born in the confidence and self belief I gained through attending the rehab., wanting to give something back through challenging fund raising efforts and then taking a more active role to keeping the charity alive to support those then facing those same doubts as I had before attending rehab.

Thank-you to the over 46,500 who have taken time to read any part of my blog, I would love to hear your thoughts on any subject I have covered, please leave your comments below or email me at peterjemmett@aol.com

My full story - from heart attack to half marathon:

Part 1 - That fateful day. (Phase I - heart attack)  click here
Part 2 - Back home & drama at White Hart Lane. (Phase II - home recovery)  click here
Part 3 - They tried to make me go to rehab, I said yes, yes, yes please. (Phase III - cardiac rehabilitation)  click here
Part 4.1 - Getting FFITer and Harefield & Heartbreak hill revisited (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.2 - Walking for heart & soul & finding parkrun (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.3 - End of year 1 round-up and assessment (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.4 - Falling heart rate: fitter or hibernation? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.5 - Pain in the bum, going senile and sub 30! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.6 - Sub 29, attack of the AKI and 1 year old (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.7 - Pushing the boundaries (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here

Part 4.8 - Bling, bling, bling, two 10K's and a 5K. (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.9 - 3 Years On, Ragged Radnage and Pete's bolus journey (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.10 - Coping with COVID-19 and what they say (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.11 - Living in the lock-down (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.12 - Plus and minus 3.5 years; heart attack to half marathon! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.13 - Is it worth the risk? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.14 - Mixed bag through Covid (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here

Part 4.15 - Getting back in the groove (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here

Part 4.16 - Reintegrating back into society (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here

Part 4.17 - Get that crazy rhythm (the low down on AFib) (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style)  click here
Part 4.18 - The 5 year itch, time to cut the CRAP! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.19 - The last word (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.20 - Persisting with parkrun - part 1 (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here

Part 4.21 - Stuck in reverse (recap of 2022) (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.22 - Starting all over again 6 years on (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.23 - God bless the NHS (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.24 - What I can, when I can (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here

Part 4.25 - Life changes (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.26 - Persisting with parkrun - part 2 (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here