Every three minutes a person in the UK dies from heart disease, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has revealed.
The charity has installed a giant 3D ticking timer on London’s South Bank ahead of World Heart Day on 29 September as a reminder that cardiovascular conditions, including heart attack and stroke, kill more frequently than people realise.
As part of the campaign, Dale Lockwood told of how he came home from work one day and “went into panic mode” when he found that his wife, Ruby, had died in her sleep at the age of just 31.
Speaking to The Independent, the 34-year-old from Birstall warned: “My wife died of heart disease, and this could happen to your family, too.”
Ruby was a West Yorkshire Police detective and died from a condition called sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, which is a cardiac arrest with no obvious cause.
Dale immediately arranged medical checks to make sure the couple’s two young children, Arthur, three, and Winifred, one, were not suffering from a genetic condition.
“We put our cars through MOTs every year, but we never think to check our hearts,” he said. “It’s worth investigating because it could save your life.”
Now, Dale dedicates his time to fundraising and raising awareness through a special fund called Be More Ruby, and has raised thousands for charity by running the London Marathon. He is also campaigning for every child to receive a heart screening before they leave education at the age of 18.
“For Ruby, it is too late, but for others it’s not. That’s the main thing,” said Dale.
Through his charitable work, he has contacted bereaved families and encouraged them to share the faces of their lost loved ones on social media. He even got a temporary tattoo with more than 50 names of those who had died from heart disease.
He said his wife was “lucky” to have survived to the age she did, when many of the names belonged to teenagers, and one to a child as young as seven.
Cardiovascular deaths have risen by nearly a fifth in working-age adults this decade, despite one in five Britons (21 per cent) thinking that only over-60s are at risk, according to a new survey commissioned by the charity.
The UK’s heart health has declined more quickly at the start of the 2020s than in any other decade for more than 50 years, with deaths from cardiovascular disease in working-age adults rising by almost 18 per cent between 2019 and 2023, from 18,693 to 21,975.
The symbolic sculpture of an hourglass was unveiled by Rivals actress Lisa McGrillis and her best friend Mary Cann in memory of Mary’s husband Nigel, who died from a heart attack last year.
McGrillis said: “I remember when Mary told me what had happened to Nigel – I was completely shocked. There had been no warning signs, he hadn’t been unwell. Sadly, heart disease often strikes like this.
“There’s so much misunderstanding around heart health, and it’s on all of us to learn more. Unveiling the BHF’s timer is a real privilege – it’s a way to make the invisible killer that is heart disease a little more visible.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, CEO of the BHF, said: “This striking timer paints a stark picture of the devastating impact of cardiovascular disease. It’s a reminder that every day, around 480 families across the UK will lose a loved one to cardiovascular conditions like heart attack and stroke.”
