A NINE-year-old boy from Pontypool didn't let his heart condition put him off strapping on his running shoes.

Ollie Banks took part in the Cardiff Junior Half Marathon - which took place the day before the regular half marathon last month - and completed the one-mile route in a speedy seven minutes and 21 seconds - a personal best.

 

In doing so Ollie raised £900 for the British Heart Foundation and was cheered on by his big brother Jack and his parents, Kirsty and Steve.

Ollie has Ebstein’s Anomaly, which is a condition where the valve which directs blood through the right side of the heart doesn’t work properly.

As Ollie gets older, his heart will work harder to compensate for this, which could lead to enlargement of the heart and heart failure.

He will eventually need an operation to fix this.

Ollie said: "My heart has a 'glitch' that is changing as I grow, and it means that I will need an operation to fix it.

"I run to keep my heart healthy and happy. 

"I want to help all the heart doctors learn new ways to fix broken hearts and be the best that they can be in helping children like me."

READ MORE:

The British Heart Foundation raised £68,000 at the Cardiff Half Marathon and are now urging people to sign up for the Wizz Air Cardiff Half on October 2 to raise more money for heart research.

BHF area fundraising manager for Wales and Northern Ireland, Nikki James, said: "For more than 60 years the public’s generosity has funded BHF research that has turned ideas that once seemed like science fiction into treatments that save lives every day.

"But, millions of people are still waiting for the next breakthrough.

“Today in Wales around 340,000 people are living with the daily burden of heart and circulatory diseases and dozens of families will lose loved ones to devastating heart diseases.

"We urgently need the public’s support to keep our life saving research going, and to discover the treatments of the future.

"It is only with donations from the public that the BHF can keep its lifesaving research going, helping us turn science fiction into reality."

To sign up for the Wizz Air Cardiff Half on October 2, click here.

To learn more about volunteering for the British Heart Foundation, click here.