By Rachael Grealish

A Whitehaven man has raised over £1,500 for West Cumberland Hospital after his father received exceptional care following a heart attack.

Jason Todd completed the Loch Ness marathon in just over four hours, on October 1, in order to raise money for the Coronary Care Unit that cared for his father last year.

Jason explained his dad experienced an ‘unexpected heart attack’ in 2022, following which he received ‘exceptional care from West Cumberland Hospital’ and is now still in recovery.

Inspired by the journey his father went on – and his dad’s love of Scotland and fitness – Jason decided to take on the task of the Loch Ness marathon.

He said: “At the end of last year my dad had an unexpected heart attack, which left everyone he knew extremely shocked and worried. He received exceptional care from West Cumberland Hospital and came home safe and sound after a week or so, which was an enormous relief and mega-positive news for the family. He is making more progress as the months go by which is great to see.

“Everyone who knows my dad knows, he is extremely fit for his age and loves to exercise; the medical professionals told him this saved his life. Without this high level of fitness, the heart attack would have been fatal.”

He further explained he wanted to give back to the ward that cared for his dad and hopes his story will help someone else make ‘better/healthier choices’ and hopefully prevent future heart attacks.

“My goal of entering this marathon is to give back to the ward who looked after my dad, the standard of care was remarkable. If this story impacts another family positively by influencing better/healthier life choices and ultimately preventing someone’s loved one from having a heart attack later on in life that’s job done for me,” he explained.

“My dad has visited Scotland for years and absolutely loves it up there, he also has family and close friends from Scotland, so we decided this location was quite fitting. My goal was to raise £1000 for the Coronary Care Unit & Cardio Rehabilitation Centre at the West Cumberland Hospital.”

Since then, Jason has raised £1,610 and has been praised by the NCIC Medical Director and Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Louise Buchanan, who said the team is ‘so grateful’ for his hard work.

Dr Buchanan said: “We are so grateful to Jason, not only for raising such a fantastic amount of money for the coronary care unit but also for raising awareness of healthier lifestyle choices in optimising your heart health.”