A team of four healthcare professionals who work in the Cardiac Catheter Theatres at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, are taking on the National Three Peaks Challenge this weekend to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.
Elizabeth Sim said, “We have chosen a career in looking after the hearts of the public. Daily we are challenged with complex cardiology procedures and work as a team to provide gold standard care for those patients who need our services.
“The covid pandemic has changed the way we work and challenged us in ways we never thought possible. So, to lift team morale and find a challenge that is out of our comfort zone, we have decided to embark on both a challenge and the adventure of a lifetime… The National Three Peaks Challenge.”
Elizabeth will be joined by colleagues Katy Jones, Sarah Lloyd and Chloe Sargent.
She added, “The challenge will see us trying to attempt to climb Snowdonia, Scarfell Pike and Ben Nevis within a 24-hour time frame. The challenge is self-funded and will hopefully take place on July 24th and 25th, starting at the base of Snowdon.
“Due to the Covid Pandemic many charities have suffered and struggled to provide support to so many who desperately need it, so this is us trying to help and do our bit, every pound helps,” she said.
The team’s efforts come at a critical time for the BHF – the largest independent funder of research into heart and circulatory diseases in Wales and the UK. The last year has been the hardest in the charity’s 60-year history. The Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on its income and as a result, research funding had to be cut in half, putting future life-saving discoveries at risk.
Heart and circulatory diseases cause one in four of all deaths in Wales, around 9,300 deaths each year – an average of 26 people each day, and around 340,000 people are living with heart and circulatory disease in Wales.
Adam Fletcher, Head of BHF Cymru, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Elizabeth and the team for choosing to fundraise for us after a very challenging time for everyone involved in health care. Our research to help save and improve lives is only made possible thanks to our inspirational supporters like them. We need the public’s support now more than ever as the BHF reaches its 60th anniversary this month.
“Cutting research funding will impact the development of new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating heart and circulatory diseases and we cannot allow the progress we have made over the last 60 years to slow down. We’re so grateful to the team for fundraising for us in our 60th year and for helping us beat heartbreak forever.”
Their fundraiser can be found here: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/elizabeth-sim2
