Heart Heroes honoured at star-studded awards
Celebrities from the world of showbiz, TV and sport gathered at Glazier’s Hall, London Bridge to celebrate our inspirational supporters at our sixth annual Heart Hero Awards.
The red carpet was rolled out on Wednesday 6th December for awards presenters and guests including football legend David Seaman, British Olympic gymnast Becky Downie, S Club’s Tina, Jon and Bradley, TV presenter Will Njobvu, former footballer Anton Ferdinand and Pippa Middleton.
The star-studded, emotionally charged event was led by newly appointed BHF ambassador, Vernon Kay, who hosted the awards for the fifth time. Heart Hero Awards were given to those who have shown remarkable bravery or have gone above and beyond to help others while coping with the devastating impact of heart and circulatory disease.
A very special evening
Presenting some of the CPR Heroes with their awards were S Club’s Tina Barrett, Jon Lee and Bradley McIntosh. The band have been working with the us to raise funds and awareness of heart and circulatory disease in memory of their beloved band member Paul Cattermole.
Amongst the winners was CPR Hero, Ginny Long. At just 15 years old Ginny performed lifesaving CPR on her dad Andy, who went into cardiac arrest in front of her. She carried out CPR for 40 agonising minutes until the ambulance arrived. Miraculously thanks to Ginny’s phenomenal determination and bravery, Andy survived and was at the awards evening.
Ginny said: “Tonight’s awards have been magical! A huge thank you to the BHF for bringing us all together to celebrate and hear each other’s heart stories. I am so grateful to be here with my dad tonight – and every day since his cardiac arrest. Tonight, we’ve been reminded just how lucky we are as a family - we’ve enjoyed every minute!”
Touching tribute
It was a special moment for one of our researchers from the University of Bristol, Professor Massimo Caputo. who won this year’s BHF Research Story of the Year for his work developing a new type of ‘heart plaster’ that could improve the way surgeons treat children living with congenital heart disease.
Professor Caputo was presented his award by former Heart Hero Award winner; Calum Morris. Born with Truncus Arteriosus Calum received lifesaving open heart surgery from Professor Caputo when he was just ten days old. Since then, Calum has had a four further major heart surgeries – all performed by Professor Caputo and his team.
Now 17, Calum and his family wanted to say thank-you to ‘their hero’. The family say thanks to Professor Caputo and his incredible team Calum has been able to achieve dreams that other boys take for granted like playing football.
This year's Young Heart Hero Awards and Heart Hero Awards are supported by Claire’s and Mattioli Woods, who are working with the us to help give a gift that keeps on living.
A heart-warming and inspiring evening
Our Chief Executive, Dr Charmaine Griffiths, said: “I’m blown away by the incredible stories of our winners who have shown such courage, resilience, and bravery in the face of heart and circulatory disease.
“These awards are truly heartwarming and make me so proud to be part of Team BHF. Thank you to our judges, hosts, celebrity guests and supporters for creating such a magical evening for the BHF and the heroes we celebrated. We hope the awards inspire others to take action against heart and circulatory diseases - by learning CPR, fundraising, or even donating unwanted goods to one of our stores.
“Our heart heroes are among the 7.6 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory diseases. This Christmas, our research is a gift that keeps on living, helping to keep families together and hearts beating for Christmases to come.”
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