Pat's marathon effort for heart hospital

A grateful wife is running two half marathons to raise money for the hospital that treated her husband.

Pat Thomas, 56, from Rhos-on-Sea decided to run for Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital after her husband Scott discovered he had a serious heart condition while using his new smart watch. 

She bought Scott the Apple watch for his 50th birthday and never dreamed the device would potentially save his life.

Pat said: “When he was playing with it he found the heart rate app and was showing it to a friend. His friend pointed out it must be broken as it showed 42bpm. He didn’t appear to have any signs of a slow heart so we ignored it and assumed he was just unfit!”

After a couple of weeks Scott saw no improvement in his heart rate and went to visit his doctor.

Pat added: “The doctor said the iwatch had basically saved his life as he had complete heart block and would need a pacemaker.”

Scott had to undergo tests and was referred to LHCH who confirmed he had a rare condition called cardiac sarcoidosis, which was causing the block.  A device was inserted to control the speed of his heart and act as a defibrillator, should it stop.

Pat said: “Scott is now safe, but his treatment and medication is ongoing. The care he’s received from LHCH has been exceptional.”

Pat ran the Cardiff half marathon on Sunday, October 2 and will be joined on her second half marathon in Conwy on Sunday, November 20 by Scott’s son, Daniel Thomas and Scott’s niece, Rachel Jones.

Pat added: “Training is going really well and running the two half marathons to raise money for LHCH is our way of trying to raise some funds and some awareness of the great work they do.

“Without the expertise of LHCH, Scott would probably not be here with us today, so we have a lot to thank them for.”

To donate visit www.justgiving.com and search for Patricia Thomas