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So please sponsor us now, no donation too small!! Our family like many others, has experienced the pain and trauma caused by the indiscriminate onset of Heart Disease and the loss of those we love - Kevin turns 50 this year and this combined with the people we have lost to Heart Disease and the BHF's 50th Anniversary makes this a very special year for us. Parents - John Henry Stanley Mills - 16/08/1929 - 1980 - Myocardial Infarction (Kevin's Dad and Leah & Scott's Granddad Aged 51) - Jean Pamela Mills - 13/04/1932 - 19/05/1984 - Myocardial Infarction Coronay Artherosclerosis. (Kevin's Mum and Leah and Scott's Nan Aged 52) - Charles William Nicholls - 28/03/1926 - 10/1996 - Arrhythmia (Jenni's Dad and Leah and Scott's Granddad Aged 70) Other Family Members - Florence Violet Bowskill - 24/09/1909 - 17/09/1981 - Myocardial Ischaemia, Coronary Artery Occlusion. - (Kevin's Nan -Aged 72) - William Bowskill - lifting a bag of potatoes out of a Van and suffered a fatal heart attack. (Kevin's Granddad aged late 50s) - Christopher Smallridge - Myocardial Infarction) - Experienced severe chest pains at home, taken to hospital, heart attack whilst in hospital and despite emergency open heart massage, passed away. A big gentle giant. (Jenni's Uncle aged 50). Here are some of our very personal memories which we wanted to share with you so that you understand why we are undertaking what to us is a very personal challenge in raising £15,000 in aid of the British Heart Foundation:- Kevin Mills: - My Mum and Dad: John Henry Stanley Mills and Jean Pamela Mills "I was 18 years old and working on a farm getting the cows in for testing when another Farm Workers drove up from the bottom farm and told me that there was an emergency at home and I was to go home immediately - I left thinking that someone had had a bad accident - when I got home there was a Police Car outside and as I went into the house I was totally unprepared for the devastating news that was relayed to me by a female Police Officer that my Dad, had died. The rest is a bit of a blur however it transpired that my dad had died whilst on a works Fishing Event by the Canal, everyone thought he was just asleep but after a long while concerns were raised and one of his colleagues ran a couple of miles to get help but tragically Dad had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away peacefully sitting by the river, fishing, one of his favourite past times. A further cruel twist of fate was to come some four years later in 1984, just a year after Jenni and I were married. I remember being in bed in the middle of the night when the phone rang, I went to the phone and my uncle told me that my Mum had suffered a heart attack and had died. I knew that Mum had previously suffered from some minor heart attacks and angina (ironically even before Dad died) I remember being told that Mum had wanted some Fish & Chips in the evening whilst staying with my Auntie, they had all eaten and then gone to bed, it was whilst in bed that Mum suffered the fatal heart attack. As an only child, I was now left without my parents and sadly they never got to meet their grandchildren Leah and Scott." Jenni Mills: My Dad: Charles William Nicholls "I remember getting ready for work and rushing around early in the morning when the phone rang and my world fell apart! - My Dad's wife was on the phone telling me that she couldn't wake Dad up, I was shouting at her to phone the ambulance which she said she had - My daughter, Leah was there staying with her Grandad at the time, she was 11 and I remember asking if Leah was ok and being told that she had been told that Grandad wasn't very well and she was fine- the rest for me was like being on autopilot - Scott was only 7 and I couldn't get everyone in the car quick enough with Kevin driving the 18 miles or so to get to Dad's house - I DO remember that the traffic to me was in complete slow motion - I just wanted everything to get out the way - we finally got there, the Ambulance was outside and as I rushed to go in one of the Paramedics caught hold my arm and told me that my Dad had died. I ran upstairs into the bedroom where Dad was, and tried to wake him up by shaking his leg, I remember my Mum, who had got there before me, was telling me that it was no use and that he had gone - he died as he slept lying on his back with his hands placed on his chest - later it was identified he had suffered a huge arrhythmia whilst sleeping. Dad was a fit man who had never been ill in his life other than minor colds etc (and even those he wouldn't admit to!), a larger than life character and left a huge hole in all our lives not least Leah and Scott who adored their Grandad" Jenni Mills - My Personal Story "We'd had a busy year, having just returned from the States and had our friends from the USA staying with us. It was Sunday and Kevin and I got up late and I immediately felt like I had slept on my left arm, it was aching, a dull continuous niggling ache but other than this I felt fine. We went out and spent a leisurely day browsing around garden centres where my arm continued to be a pain (literally!) and then came home late afternoon to cook a good ole traditional Sunday Roast. My arm was still aching and so at this stage Kevin insisted I call NHS Direct, which I did, after explaining my symptoms to them they said they were sending an ambulance! - I was shocked as it was only a bit of arm ache and didn't want the fuss and refused that so they insisted on speaking to Kevin and confirming with him that he would be responsible for taking me straight to A&E, which he did. I was a little bemused but also a little frightened at this stage, as I didn't know what all the fuss was about. We got into the hospital and after various ECGs and Blood Tests and hours of waiting I was told there was an irregularity showing on my ECG and that they wanted to perform an angiogram - when they explained to me what this entailed I was petrified and Kevin, as you can imagine, having lost both his parents to heart disease was mortified. I had the angiogram which was one of the scariest things I had experienced with so many people and screens in the room, I was sedated BUT NOT ENOUGH!! - They found a large blockage in my left arterial descending artery and performed an angioplasty there and then (stented it). Kevin had been told by the Nursing Staff that if I came out not hooked up to machines then everything was fine but if not.......well you can imagine his face and terror when I was wheeled out of the theatre hooked up to ECGs, Oxygen Masks etc - it was a terrifying time for us. For me personally the biggest battle came afterwards, I was terrified of being left alone, raising my heart rate, I felt every little irregular beat (or thought I did), my confidence was shattered, I felt the most vulnerable I had ever felt in my life (especially as I had no real risk factors they could attribute it to other than it was genetic, so I felt there was nothing I could do to stop it happening again!) and this took me some 12 months and some fantastic support from my family, especially Kevin and the post cardiac event care by the Heart Team in my area to overcome. So that's me...."stented" and back to normal, how long do stents last? who knows, but every day's a bonus and life is for living NOTE FROM JENNI "I am extremely proud of my family, Kevin Leah-Marie and Scott for undertaking this Trek in aid of the BHF to help them continue their research into heart disease that affects so many people young and old and their families and friends - Kevin turns 50 this year which is a very poignant age for him given the ages of his parents when they died, it is also the BHF's 50th Anniversary and so what better time to commemorate and remember those we lost and help fund further research so that those that are still here live longer than by doing this Trek at this time - Please support them as much as you can in this fantastic endeavour -remember no donation is too small - every little helps achieve our target THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FROM US ALL IN ANTICIPATION OF YOUR SUPPORT!