Our family and why I am supporting the British Heart Foundation

For anyone who is interested I wanted to tell you more about why this means so much to me, our families history and a little about my Uncle Luke. (Big thanks to my Dad who helped me write this so I got the details right.)

When my granddad was a boy, he saw a documentary about rare conditions and told his mum that he thought he might have one of the ones mentioned. To make sure, they took him to be checked, and that’s when he was diagnosed with something called situs inversus totalis. It’s a very rare condition where all of the organs inside your body are the opposite way round, like in a mirror image. Luckily, it hasn’t caused him any problems.

My Dad was the first child but later on, when my gradparents had their third son, my uncle Luke, he was born very poorly. He had lots of serious heart problems, like hypoplastic left heart syndrome, hole in his heart, and coarctation of the aorta. Even though one of the most famous heart surgeons, Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, and the staff at the Harefield Hospital tried everything to help, my uncle Luke sadly passed away when he was only one month old. (That's his beautiful picture)

A few years later, my uncle Tim was born. He also had heart problems, including coarctation of the aorta. But this time, Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub and his team were able to help and make him better. Apart from a small setback and small heart procedure later on, he’s doing really well now.

Because of all this, doctors checked my dad’s heart and his other brother, David. That’s when they found out he also had coarctation of the aorta. Much later he was also found to have something called partial anomalous pulmonary venous return and Ectopic arrhythmia. Don't worry though my Dad was fixed up and is one of the strongest people I know, he can lift weights at the Gym, do Archery and anything else!

Finally one of my second cousin's was also diagnosed with situs inversus, just like Granddad, but again this hasn't had any bad effects. Phew!

Even though there have been some really tough times, my family is very lucky. Other then Luke we are all here, living happy and healthy lives because of the amazing care from the doctors.

I often think and ask about my uncle Luke and what he might have been like if he was still here. Even though I never got to meet him, I know how much he means to my Dad and our family. Thinking about him makes me want to help other families who are going through similar things.

If you can donate I would love you to be able to help me in my efforts.