Tadley mother running London half-marathon for charity after life-saving heart operation

A Tadley woman who had life-saving heart surgery is taking on a running challenge to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Shelley Winsper, 40, had an operation in November 2018 to repair her aorta after her health suddenly deteriorated.

But it was only when surgeons carried out the procedure that they discovered her aorta – the artery that carries blood from the heart to the body – had partially ruptured and that she could have died suddenly at any time.

Tests following her surgery revealed that the mother-of-three had a developed Takayasu arteritis, a rare condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.

Ms Winsper said: “I’ve always been a very active person, I love running and playing netball. But suddenly I found that I was becoming breathless and tired very easily.

“Then, about a month before my operation, I had to go to A&E as I was feeling a severe pain in my chest.

“After carrying out different tests and scans, the doctors thought that I had an aneurysm that was causing my aorta to leak.

“They scheduled an operation to repair it, but during the surgery they found the problem was much more serious and that I’d been at risk of dying suddenly.

“When they did my operation, the hospital took a biopsy and diagnosed me with Takayasu arteritis. While I’ll never be cured of it, I’m currently in remission for it. I have ongoing monitoring as the disease could potentially affect other arteries in my body.”

After her operation, Ms Winsper attended cardiac rehabilitation sessions for six weeks. She has now been able to resume running and set herself the goal of running in the London Landmarks Half Marathon which takes place on April 3.

The 13-mile route takes runners past some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks including Nelson’s Column, the London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Ms Winsper, who works as a payroll officer, said: “A half marathon is a massive challenge for me. I will never be the same runner that I was before my surgery, and I’m fine with that. But I wanted to do this event for the BHF because they’ve paved the way for many of the advances in treatment that benefitted from.

“So much of the information about my condition and support came from the BHF that I wanted to help them continue that work and help other people.”

The BHF funds research into all heart and circulatory diseases, such as congenital heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia, and their risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Lee Sumner, head of events at the BHF, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Shelley for taking on this very personal challenge.

“We’ve made immense progress since our inception in 1961, helping to reduce deaths from heart and circulatory diseases by half, but we must achieve so much more.

“We know we can prevent more people from developing heart and circulatory diseases, that’s why it’s critical we provide the funding so that scientists can discover the next important breakthrough.”

To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shelleywinsper