Sarah's story

Sarah Knight was enjoying a cinema date night with her husband Patrick to celebrate his birthday. The couple, in their early thirties, were enjoying a rare night off parental duties to their children Leo and Lyra.

When Sarah suddenly slumped in her seat, Patrick thought she was having a seizure and called for medical help. A quick-thinking fellow cinemagoer realised she was having a cardiac arrest and began CPR until an ambulance arrived to rush her to hospital.

There, Sarah was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse/regurgitation. She had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted post-valvular surgery.

A better life for those with an ICD

“In terms of my mental health it’s been hard to come to terms with everything. I do have more anxiety at times given everything that’s happened.” - Sarah

An ICD is a small device which can treat people with dangerously abnormal heart rhythms. Having an ICD fitted is a life-changing experience, and patients often feel isolated, having to take on lots of information during a highly stressful period of their lives.

With the help of BHF funding, Dr Loreena Hill is developing a new app to provide ICD patients with all the information they need. Information that they can browse at their leisure, addressing a broad range of everyday questions. This will enable people with an ICD to understand their device, what it does, and what it means to live well with one.

Thanks to your donations, British Heart Foundation (BHF) powers pioneering new science that can improve the lives of people living with heart and circulatory disease today and for generations to come.