Peterborough woman takes on epic cycling challenge to raise money for research that helped save husband’s life

A veterinary nurse from Peterborough is to undertake a gruelling bike ride to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Louise Royle will tackle the charity’s London to Brighton Off Road event on Saturday September 23 as a way of saying “thank you” for the research that helped save the life of her husband, Will.

Will, 39, was fitted with a mechanical heart valve following a seizure in January 2018.

Louise remembers the events leading up to that day very well, noting her husband had always been “really fit and healthy.”

“There weren’t any warning signs this was going to happen, other than that morning he wasn’t feeling 100%.”

Later that day, Louise got a call from Will’s boss - her husband had been found unconscious in his work van.

Will was taken straight to A&E. However, doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him, even after conducting ECG and ultrasound tests. A subsequent brain scan also came back as normal.

Louise, 40, continued: “It wasn’t until one night soon after, that I put my head on his chest and could hear his heartbeat wasn’t regular.

“He was referred to see a cardiologist who found he had a bicuspid aortic valve.”

Will would have been born with the undetected condition – characterised by his aortic valve having two flaps instead of the normal three – which results in the heart having to work harder to pump blood around the body.

Following the diagnosis, Will received open-heart surgery where he was fitted with a mechanical valve to help ease the strain on his heart.

Thankfully, he made a quick recovery and was back home two weeks later. “He felt like a new man,” Louise recalls: “he had so much more energy.”

However, there was an unlikely side-effect to the surgery.

“With his new valve you can hear his valve clicking as his heart beats,” Louise noted: “we joke he now ticks like the crocodile in Peter Pan.”

Louise will be joined by more than 2,000 other fundraising cyclists on the epic 61-mile-long ride. She is proud to undertake the challenge.

“Without all the research the BHF helps fund, my husband may not be here today.”