How can a fit, clean-living 32-year-old have a heart attack? For Martin the answer was in his genes. Like thousands he suffers from INHERITED high cholesterol By Anna Hodgekiss As usual, Martin Keighley had changed into his trainers as soon as he’d arrived back from work, then headed out to pound the country lanes. ‘I’d been running at least twice a week for a few years,’ says Martin, the chief executive of a water technology company. A non-smoker, he ate healthily and was keen to stay fit. Although he felt ‘absolutely fine’ when he set off, after a while he felt very dizzy. ‘I presumed I was overdoing it, and sat down on the wall of a house to catch my breath.’ Survivor: FH sufferer Martin Keithley has had his family tested for the hereditary cholesterol condition, (from left) Daniel, Hannah, wife Sally and Megan Then the fit, healthy 33-year-old keeled over with a heart attack. It was sheer luck that he survived. ‘Had my GP not been out walking his dog and spotted me in trouble, I think I’d be brain damaged or dead now,’ he says. ‘He and a neighbour performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived.’ Hospital tests revealed three of Martin’s arteries were severely blocked and he had a cholesterol reading of 10.8 (a healthy reading is below 5). He was diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), an inherited condition where the body cannot clear ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol from the blood. His arteries were so clogged that he needed a triple heart bypass — where blood vessels are taken from elsewhere in the body, usually the chest and legs, and used to create a new route for the blood to flow around the blockages. An estimated 100,000 people in Britain are living with FH but don’t know it, according to a report published last week by the Royal College of Physicians. The condition could kill them at any moment. Since Martin’s heart attack, the rest of his family have been tested for FH. His 16-year-old daughter Megan, brother and 11-year-old niece have all been diagnosed with it. His 14-year-old son Daniel doesn’t appear to have inherited the condition, though further tests are needed to confirm this, and his ten-year-old daughter Hannah is due to be tested soon. Martin now believes FH was to blame for his father’s heart attack at 32, and the subsequent attack that went on to kill him in his early 50s. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1352284/How-fit-clean-living-32-year-old-heart-attack.html#ixzz1Cgsem6uV
