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.
Michelle's story
Michelle was in her mid-twenties when she collapsed suddenly one day. The mum of 3 was subsequently found to have a faulty mitral valve. Since then, she’s undergone 13 heart surgeries.
Michelle, 48, Manchester
Michelle’s story is one of resilience and survival. She has had a long journey of cardiovascular treatment and procedures, which began in her mid-twenties when she collapsed one day - seemingly out of the blue. It was after this that she was found to have a faulty mitral valve. Her heart became enlarged due to the extra strain it was under, and she had 2 open-heart surgeries to repair the faulty valve.
As a result Michelle, a stylist, developed several abnormal heart rhythms and had a pacemaker fitted. She has also had endocarditis and has suffered two mini strokes, and in 2022 suffered a major stroke. In 2023, Michelle became very unwell again and was told she was going to need lifesaving surgery – to both replace her mitral valve and repair her tricuspid valve - which took 9 hours.
Throughout it all, Michelle has remained positive and hopeful. The stylist, former actor, and lover of all things fragrance is grateful to be here with her family thanks to the help of scientific research.
Helping manage abnormal heart rates and rhythms
Every year, around 50,000 people in the UK are fitted with a pacemaker. People just like Michelle. A pacemaker is a small device that helps to manage abnormal heart rates and rhythms. But in the early 1960s, they were far from perfect. These early devices were bulky, used a lot of power, and had to be recharged in a hospital.
“I won’t have fear determine how I live.”
Michelle
With the help of one of BHF’s earliest research grants, that picture has changed. BHF funding contributed to advances in pacemaker technology, paving the way for the sophisticated devices we have today, which transform patients’ lives. Because of this progress, modern pacemakers give thousands of people the chance to live longer, healthier lives with the people they love.
But our work is not done. BHF continues to fund groundbreaking research into the improvement of cardiac devices to help keep you and your loved ones healthier, for longer. Donate now to help fund lifesaving research and keep us beating.
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Every 3 minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease.
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Pioneering research funded by your donations
CureHeart: Curing inherited heart muscle conditions
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Gene therapies to regenerate the heart
Professor Mauro Giacca is pioneering treatments to prevent, treat or even reverse heart failure.
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