Caoimhe's story

Caoimhe, 23, Northern Ireland

After a long time feeling unwell and numerous collapses, Caoimhe was fitted with an implantable loop recorder, which detected pauses in her heart. An MRI showed that structurally her heart was normal. However, her heart's natural pacemaker wasn’t working as well as it should do.

Shortly afterwards, Caoimhe was diagnosed with a condition called sick sinus syndrome or sinus node dysfunction. She then spent 13 days in hospital, getting discharged on Christmas Eve 2022 with a pacemaker at only 20 years old.

Caoimhe had a long recovery that challenged her physical and mental health, but this didn’t break her spirit. She became very interested in supporting BHF’s work and took on our Walk for Hearts challenge – walking 50 miles and raising £3,000 to support lifesaving research into cardiovascular disease. “I wanted to give back, to honour what I had been through,” she explains. “And to raise awareness so that more research can help people like me.”

Today, Caoimhe is finishing a master’s degree in public health, specialising in heart health. Through her experience, Caoimhe has learned how vital scientific research is to helping people just like her live longer, healthier lives. She is currently a Clinical Research Collaborative patient and has discovered that research is her passion and long-term career goal.

Devices that save and transform lives

Every year, around 50,000 people in the UK are fitted with a pacemaker – a small device that helps to manage abnormal heart rates and/or rhythms. But in the early 1960s, pacemakers were far from perfect. These early devices were bulky, used a lot of power, and had to be recharged in hospital.

With the help of one of BHF’s earliest research grants, that picture has changed. BHF funding has contributed to advances in pacemaker technology, paving the way for the sophisticated devices we have today – that transform people's lives.

Because of this progress, modern pacemakers give thousands of people the chance to live longer, healthier lives with the people they love. People just like Caoimhe. But we’re not stopping here. BHF continues to fund groundbreaking research into the improvement of cardiac devices. This Heart Month, we need your support to keep us beating.