Have a heart and pay Carol to lose pounds (From Bournemouth Echo)

Have a heart and pay Carol to lose pounds

7:00pm Friday 23rd January 2009 in Search By Katie Clark

A MUM-of-two is slimming down to help fight an inherited heart condition which affects her husband and two children.

Carol Faulkner, from Anne Close in Fairmile, Christchurch, is planning to lose three stone in a sponsored slim to raise more than £500 for the Cardiomyopathy Association, a charity that supports affected families and funds clinical care.

Cardiomyopathy is a serious condition, which causes the heart muscle to thicken and can cause problems with the heart’s rhythm and its ability to pump efficiently.

And with the discovery that Carol’s children Leanne, 15 and Matt, 12, have the gene mutation which has caused dad Steve’s problems, the 43-year-old housewife jumped into action.

Steve, 41, was diagnosed with the condition when he was 26 years old and has recently had to be medically signed off work as an engineer.

The couple’s children are also being regularly checked at Southampton Hospital. They have a slight thickening of the heart but otherwise no other symptoms at present.

Carol said: “I knew I would need an incentive to stick to a healthy eating plan. So I thought what better way than to do it to raise money for the Cardiomyopathy Association which has given us so much support.

“The more money that goes into finding out more about the condition and helping patients, the more likely my children are to have a better future. This is very important to me,” she added.

Carol also said she and her family felt they were in a much better position knowing about the condition and getting the proper treatment than those who know nothing about it until it is too late.

Having always struggled with her weight, she is seeking sponsorship to lose two stone in the next six months and three stone in total by the end of the year.

“Doing the slim for the association is a commitment which I can’t back out of and means I have to be good”, she said.

To sponsor Carol go to justgiving.com/carolfaulkner