Daughter's journey to raise awareness after former Wolverton Town dad suffers heart attack

Lynn Siggins, who celebrates a landmark 50th birthday this year, alongside Milton Keynes itself, is taking part in the London Marathon on April 23.

So far she has raised £1,712 for Heart UK, a charity that raises awareness to prevent premature deaths caused by high cholesterol and heart disease.

Lynn’s father Derek Stones, a former centre forward for Wolverton Town, suffered a heart attack due to high cholesterol when he was 49.

Lynn explains: “Many moons ago when I was 16, I was on holiday in Italy, when suddenly I felt the most awful crushing feeling in my chest and fell to the floor unable to breathe.

“For some strange reason I said ‘something’s wrong with my dad’ and I immediately went to a phone box and called home.
“I was told that my dad was fine but ‘unable to come to the phone’.

“At that exact minute back in England my dad had a massive heart attack. 
“It didn’t make sense, he had always been a keen footballer and runner and still played, barely drank, smoked a little but ate what would still be considered a healthy diet.

“His heart arteries were found to be clogged with cholesterol, something we then knew very little about and even prevented him from walking down to the shop.

“Luckily a year after diagnosis he received what was then a revolutionary open heart procedure known as a quadruple heart bypass.

“He was told that he could expect perhaps 10 more years of life, no-one knew for sure, it was such a new an operation.

“Now my dad is still going and well into his 80s with the aid of statins, good food and good living - and a lot of help from my mum.

“I will soon be 50 myself, the same age he was when the fateful attack happened. I am now also taking statins and have been diagnosed with hereditary high cholesterol.

“With that, I have decided to run the London Marathon to raise awareness and money to stop people suffering as my family has.”

To support Lynn’s effort, click here.