Nantgaredig family celebrates ‘Gift that Keeps on Living’

This festive season, BHF Cymru is urging people to donate to the charity to help fund its lifesaving research into heart and circulatory diseases.  

The charity’s ‘gift that keeps on living’ campaign is highlighting stories like Lyn Rowlands’ to show how vital the British Heart Foundation’s research is – for the millions of people in the UK affected by these conditions, and for their loved ones.

Lyn, 68, from Nantgaredig, had stents fitted in 2020. The tiny devices are used to keep arteries open and save lives. Stents can treat heart attacks and angina when used in your coronary arteries. They are inserted in an angioplasty procedure, either as an emergency to treat a heart attack, or in a planned way to widen an artery that is being narrowed by a build-up of fatty plaque.

After Lyn had his procedure, his 9-year-old granddaughter Anwen Purnell was inspired to support the BHF and raised over £200 for the charity’s research this year in a 5k fundraising challenge.

Anwen said: “I really enjoyed doing the 5k and I’m very proud of myself for collecting £205 for the British Heart Foundation.  I chose the British Heart Foundation because my Tadcu had an operation on his heart, and I wanted to say thank you.”

Anwen’s Mamgu, Lyn’s wife Jane Rowlands said: “We are very proud of Anwen that she’s shown so much love towards her Tadcu and choosing to fundraise in support of British Heart Foundation following his heart operation.  Anwen and her sister, Carys are very much loved by us both.”

The family have already started making Christmas memories for 2022, with a visit to see Father Christmas at Longleat’s Festival of Light. Lyn and Jane went with granddaughters Carys and Anwen, their daughter Emma-Jane and her husband Gary Purnell.

They visited the BHF’s furniture and electrical store in Carmarthen to meet store manager Linda Ryan, who’d provided fundraising advice to Anwen during her challenge, and Head of BHF Cymru, Rhodri Thomas.

Rhodri, whose hometown is Carmarthen, said: “It was a privilege to meet Anwen and her wonderful family to thank them in person for their support of the BHF. They are rightly very proud of Anwen and her sister Carys, and I wish them all a very merry Christmas, from all of us at the BHF.

“At Christmas, we usually gift material things. But for this festive season, we’re asking people to give the gift of a longer life for people with heart conditions, by helping to fund our groundbreaking research.  

“Our research has turned ideas that once seemed like ‘science fiction’ into treatments and cures that save lives every day. But despite all our progress, millions of people are still waiting for the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow, so that they can spend more time with the people they love.  

“It is only thanks to the generous donations of the public that we can provide hope for people like Lyn and find the cures and treatments of tomorrow.”