An AI tool that helps predict heart attacks
Professor Charalambos Antoniades is developing an AI tool that can help predict heart attacks up to 10 years in advance.
Jack's story
Jack was just 17 and playing basketball when he collapsed following a cardiac arrest. A life-changing diagnosis followed.
Jack, 19, Nottingham
Jack was 17 when he collapsed from a cardiac arrest. He was playing basketball when it happened, in February 2024. Luckily, an off-duty Red Cross first aid instructor was on a nearby court. They performed CPR on Jack and used a defibrillator on him before he was rushed to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.
Jack remained critically ill and on life support, with his parents and twin brother Max by his side. After 9 days in Leicester, he was transferred to the specialist heart unit in London, where he was diagnosed with the inherited heart muscle condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Jack’s family were told he had just an 8% chance of survival and a 2% chance of keeping his own heart. Eventually, doctors were able to operate on Jack’s own heart rather than undergoing a heart transplant. He was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and a pacemaker. Today, Jack is studying Software Engineering at university and enjoying getting back to just being a regular teenager – all thanks to the help of scientific research.
CureHeart: Curing inherited heart muscle conditions
Around 1 in 250 people worldwide live with an inherited heart muscle condition. That’s 30 million people. Each with their own family, loved ones, and stories to tell. These conditions are a major cause of sudden cardiac death and can lead to heart failure. They can be passed down through generations, devastating whole families.
“I hope that in the future people won’t have to go through all of the bad stuff.”
Jack
In 2022, BHF awarded £30 million to CureHeart, a team of world experts led by Professor Hugh Watkins at the University of Oxford. This project, fuelled by BHF’s biggest ever grant, seeks to develop cures for inherited heart muscle diseases.
A future where people can be cured of inherited heart muscle disease is within reach – and BHF-funded research is making it possible.
This pioneering new approach could save countless lives, reduce pressure on our health system, and prevent inherited heart muscle disease. Donate now to help fund lifesaving research and keep us beating.
Donate now to keep us beating
Every 3 minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease.
But with your donations, research funded by British Heart Foundation can help more people like Jack survive.
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Cardiovascular disease is one of the UK’s biggest killers. Your support helps us power lifesaving research that protects those you love most.
Pioneering research funded by your donations
CureHeart: Curing inherited heart muscle conditions
Professor Hugh Watkins and an international team are developing cures for these conditions.
Gene therapies to regenerate the heart
Professor Mauro Giacca is pioneering treatments to prevent, treat or even reverse heart failure.
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