A 64-year-old runner from Abercarn, Caerphilly, has completed his first half marathon in 28 years and raised £575 for the British Heart Foundation, in appreciation for the research they do into heart and circulatory diseases after his brother survived a heart attack.

 Phil Fiander retired recently from Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) where he worked for more than 20 years.

 

[Dave (left) with Phil (right) and their friend Chris Bently centre]

He says, “My brother Dave is not a smoker, but has the occasional drink, plays golf and has been active all of his life. At the age of 57 we did not expect him to have a heart attack, and we are glad that he survived when many other don’t, so I wanted to raise some money for a very important cause.”

[Dave with Phil in the background at Phil’s daughter Emma’s wedding after Dave’s heart attack c Paul Pope Photography]

Dave, 60, has returned to work as a printer in Taunton since his heart attack and is enjoying life once more, but according to Phil, things could have been very different.

 “Saturday July 14th 2018 is a day that will be remembered in the Fiander household for many years to come and little did we know at the beginning of the day of how events would pan out for my brother Dave during that day.

 “It started like any other, it was planned to be a nice day celebrating my wife and a friend’s recent birthdays and our wedding anniversary. The plan of the day was for my brother and his wife to come and visit us from Taunton and to see War Horse in Cardiff that night. We had arranged to go in a few hours earlier so that we could show them the sites of Cardiff Bay and then meet up with our friends at the theatre. It was a glorious warm July day and we walked out to the Cardiff Barrage and back with no hint of the events that were to unfold that evening, we stopped and had a meal and a couple of beers in the Indian restaurant and then went to the show.

 “The show was great we had a drink during the interval and chatted about the performance and the marvellous puppetry of the performance. Little did my bother know that within 4 hours that he would have very little recall of those events and what happened in the next 3 days. The show finished and we went back to our house in Abercarn, had a coffee and the day finished like every other day and we went to bed around about midnight.

 “At about 2 in the morning I was awoken by Nicky Dave’s wife saying that he was feeling unwell and would I take him to the hospital. When I asked what the matter was with him, he said he didn’t really know but he had never felt like this before. He didn’t show any of the common symptoms associated with a heart attack like sweating or pains in his chest or left arm and at that time I thought he genuinely had a touch of indigestion I even gave him a Gaviscon!

 “Nicky was insistent that we took him to the hospital which, we did. Dave got himself to the car sat in the front with me and was still feeling unwell but was completely conscious. We hadn’t got half a mile down the road when the world came tumbling down. Dave collapsed in the passenger’s seat next to me.

 “Nicky immediately dialled 999 and they told to pull over, get Dave out of the car and start CPR the lady on the phone was brilliant and talked through everything we needed to do.

 “Very quickly the ambulance services arrived and took over from us. They worked on him for 20-25 mins before they resuscitated him. They were brilliant and ultimately, they saved his life. Once stabilised, they took him straight to the hospital where he was stabilised further and had a stent fitted. He was put into ITU and at 7.30 Sunday morning that’s when we saw him next.

 “Dave was put in an induced coma for the next 3 days and when he awoke, he has no recollection of the event that took place that evening or the preceding days from the interval of War Horse to the Wednesday.

 “He is recovering and is now back to work. There has been damage to his heart but with tablets and monitoring, he is getting stronger. This year he was able to give his eldest daughter away at her wedding and he spends real quality time with his grandson Theo.

 “As you can imagine, this was a traumatic set of events for the family and friends, I know it’s not one we will ever forget. This is why I decided to run the Cardiff virtual Half Marathon for the British Heart Foundation this year, and hopefully the real half Marathon in March, where I hope other family and friends will run with me. Dave is hoping to walk it to raise money to help with the BHF’S research, so we hope people will visit our JustGiving page.”

[Dave Fiander at his niece Emma’s wedding after he survived a heart attack c Paul Pope Photography]

Having completed the run Phil thanked those who’d sponsored him and said, “It was hard work, and my legs were like jelly for the last two miles, but I did it!”

[The Fiander family at Phil’s daughter’s wedding c Paul Pope Photography]

Head of BHF Cymru Adam Fletcher said, “Heart and circulatory diseases cause 1 in 4 deaths in Wales – an average of 26 deaths each day – and these conditions affect 340,000 people in Wales today.

“We want to help save and improve many more lives. The research we fund means that treatments and procedures can be developed which we hope will help people in Wales live longer, healthier lives.

“We are so grateful to Phil and everyone who helps the BHF by taking on a fundraising challenge. Without their support we simply couldn’t deliver the life saving research we have done for the last 60 years.”

The BHF is encouraging everyone to take part in their Team 60 challenge to mark six decades of life saving research. To find out more, go to www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/fundraise

Phil’s fundraising page is at https://www.justgiving.com/team/RunningwithDave