Charlotte will never forget the day her mum, Lorraine, had her heart attack. In a moment her life, and that of her brother James, changed forever. "Being the older one," she says, "I had to be strong for my brother. But all I could think was, how am I going to tell James if mum dies?"


Lorraine's heart failure affects the family on a daily basis as she can't do much by herself. Even walking up the stairs, she has to stop and breathe properly.

"We're not a normal family anymore," says Charlotte. "Every day I wake up and make sure she's awake. I check that she has her pills and that nothing's too stressful for her."

She knows heart failure is incurable, but Charlotte still has hope. "The British Heart Foundation have been a massive help to us," she says. "We know first-hand what they can do – without them we probably wouldn't have a mum."

We are fighting for hope

Support our amazing Mending Broken Hearts Appeal and help our scientists end the suffering caused by heart failure.