Take the stairs to help cure heart disease

Take the Stairs 2013 is looking for brave participants to climb the Arts Tower, the tallest university building in the UK, to raise vital funds for research into heart disease.

If you are up for the challenge, taking place on Sunday 24 February, visit the event website for more information.

Thanks to our dedicated researchers, there have been great breakthroughs in understanding how to prevent and treat heart disease, but as Dr Timothy Chico, Senior Lecturer from Cardiovascular Science and Honorary Consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, explained, we can do more:

"Heart disease is still the biggest single cause of death in the UK, and we need more research to find new treatments.

“All of us whose research is supported by BHF are very grateful for the amazing efforts made by their fundraisers and volunteers. This is a great way for people to raise money for research into heart disease, while at the same time reducing their own risk of heart problems in later life.”

The British Heart Foundation funds Dr Chico's research. He's investigating how blood vessels grow and form in zebrafish, to give us clues about how we might stimulate new healthy blood vessels to grow in people with coronary heart disease.

The zebrafish is also the inspiration of the BHF's Mending Broken Hearts Appeal, which is funding cutting-edge research to help the heart repair itself after heart attack.

Currently there is no way to repair the human heart when it's damaged, whereas the zebrafish can re-grow up to 20 per cent of its own heart in a matter of weeks. If scientists can find a way to make the human heart behave more like a zebrafish heart, they will be able to mend broken hearts and save lives.

The Take the Stairs challenge aims to get fundraisers climbing all 390 steps of the iconic Arts Tower which stands at 78 metres high.

A number of local sporting celebrities will be amongst hundreds of other energetic participants who will be treated to breathtaking sights of the city once they reach the top of the tower.

Retired English football referee, Uriah Rennie, said: "I am very pleased to be able to support the Take the Stairs challenge. It is a great way of raising awareness of the great work the BHF is involved in. Along with many of my friends and sporting colleagues I will be taking the stairs challenge, you never know who you might meet on the stairs.”

The inaugural Sheffield Stair Run was launched in February and was the brainchild of Stuart Heslington. He was just 15 when he lost his father to heart disease and the inspirational fundraiser doesn't want other people to go through the same heart breaking experience.

Stuart, who is now the Sheffield Major Events Committee Chair for the BHF, said: “This is a unique opportunity to set yourself an exciting challenge in an iconic building to raise money which will help save lives.”

In February 2012, the event raised more than £4,000 and organisers are hoping to double that figure this time.

For more information about the event telephone 0121 661 5100 or 07973469798, or email frsupport@bhf.org.uk

Pictured above, from left: Zahra Amirabadi and Jemma Lidgate, BHF supporters from the University, Dr Rashed Hossain, Research Fellow from the Department of Cardiology , Stuart Heslington, Chairman of the BHF Sheffield Major Events Committee.