High Peak mum with heart condition to run London Marathon for health charity

Chapel-en-le-Frith resident Sophie Elliott, 28, will line up at the start of the 26-mile race on Sunday, April 23, as part of the British Heart Foundation team, confident that she has conquered bigger challenges already and defied the odds which were stacked against her competing in any kind of endurance sport again.

Nine years ago, as a university law student, Sophie was a competitive swimmer and considered herself “fit and well” until one day her world was turned on its head.

She said: “I was standing in the kitchen one morning making breakfast and the next thing I knew I had the worst chest pain ever. My heart started beating so fast that it made me pass out.”

Sophie was found collapsed on the floor by boyfriend Mark, now her husband, who called for an ambulance to rush her into hospital.

There doctors soon discovered Sophie had an irregular heartbeat, leading to a diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a relatively common condition caused by an extra electrical connection in the heart and causes it to beat abnormally fast.

Looking back, Sophie realised that signs may have been missed earlier in her life, when she experienced chest pains which were put down to panic attacks or anxiety, but the implications for her future were even more significant.

She said: “I wasn’t allowed to drive for three years, I had my licence revoked, and I couldn’t even toast my 21st birthday as I wasn’t allowed to drink.

“I had three years of being quite strict and losing out on a lot of what I felt I should be doing because I had to be so careful as they weren’t sure how bad things could get.”

Eventually Sophie underwent an ablation – a procedure that corrects abnormal heart rhythms by blocking electrical pathways in the heart – and combined with medication she felt able to lead a more regular life.

The newfound calm allowed Sophie and Mark to think about starting a family, only for two heart-breaking and unexplained miscarriages to follow.

It is not known whether the loss of the babies was linked to Sophie’s heart, but when she became pregnant again with daughter Grace, now three, there were complications more clearly connected to the condition.

Sophie said: “Things took a really bad turn because my heart rate wouldn’t stay stable and one day unfortunately I fell on my bump. Grace was suffering from the stress of it, so they ended up delivering my daughter early.”

Two years later she had a similar experience with her son, Albie, who also ended up being delivered early – though thankfully both children were in good health.

Sophie was determined to get back to full fitness after the pregnancies and chose to take up running as something she could easily control and combine with using a heartrate monitor. Six months on and with the support of her cardiologist, she completed her first marathon.

She said: “I completed the Chester Marathon last year in five hours but I am hoping to do better than that in London.

“I’ve done more training this time and I am a lot fitter because I am not six months post-baby, so I am hoping I will go quicker. Anything under four and a half hours would be really good – just a real achievement for me.”

Sophie, who works as a manager at O’Neill Patient Solicitors law firm in Stockport, will be putting her trainers away again later this year when she goes in for another ablation procedure. For now, she is determined to enjoy the day in London and raise as much money as possible for BHF.

She said: “They’ve given us really good support and there’s been a few times when we have reached out for reassurance, so I just want to be able to give something back.”

BHF funds around £100million of research each year into all heart and circulatory diseases and the things that cause them, with breakthroughs over the charity’s 60 years including transplants, pacemakers, portable defibrillators and valve replacements.

In the 1960s, more than seven out of ten heart attacks in the UK were fatal. Now, seven out of ten people survive and get to see their families again.

Despite that incredible progress, many people are still diagnosed with heart and circulatory problems such as strokes, vascular dementia and diabetes. 7million people in the UK are thought to be living with such diseases, accounting for a quarter of all UK deaths.

The charity says that around 67p of every £1 it raises is made available to spend on life-saving research, while BHF also runs a helpline for people with medical enquiries and campaigns to improve health policy and tackle inequalities which affect patients’ risk factors and potential outcomes.

Karen McDonnell, senior events manager at BHF, said Sophie was a real inspiration: “She’s taking on this marathon challenge despite living with a heart condition herself – that's an incredible achievement and she should be very proud of herself.

“The money she raises will go towards funding lifesaving research to help people like herself who have heart or circulatory problems but who still want to lead full lives. Thank you Sophie – and good luck on the day. I am sure you’re going to smash it.”

To make a donation to Sophie’s fundraising, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/sophie-elliott28.