The young inspire the young

Leanne Coyle’s story

How we could make a difference
Growing up is challenging enough without a heart condition to deal with. Ten years ago the BHF provided just one resource for young people living with a heart condition. But a weekend residential event in 2006 changed our whole approach.

The 22 young people who attended were given a say in what they wanted to see on our website for 13-19 year olds, yheart.net/meet. It came to light that some of them had never met another young person with a heart condition.

How we did it
In the past few years our work has made us a vital source of information for any young person living with a heart condition. As well as yheart.net/meet we hold Teen Think Tank meetings across the UK to give young people with heart conditions a say in what we can do for them. And we continue to hold a biannual ‘Weekend Stunner’ residential event in addition to Speak Up workshops. Despite distances and differences, these young people are developing a community.

One idea that came from a Speak Up workshop was to create a BHF ID card which could be used at times when a young person’s heart condition is questioned or forgotten. Sometimes teachers questioned the many doctors appointments they had or when physical activity needed to be avoided because of a heart condition. The innovative BHF ID cards are being issued to young people at cardiology clinics already.

And young people like Leanne are an essential part of the BHF and yheart.net. Leanne writes an inspirational and popular blog, and has helped shape our Teen Think Tanks and Speak Up workshops.

How we’ll progress
We want to support more young people with heart conditions by continuing our programme of Weekend Stunners, Teen Think Tanks and Life Skills workshops. We’ll also be asking more young people with heart conditions to write blogs about their experiences on yheart.net so other young people can share and learn from their experiences.