Running a Marathon a year after heart surgery

Hi everyone,

My name is Matt Aldred, I'm 32 years old and in October 2020 I had open heart surgery to fix my Bicuspid Aortic Valve. I had surgery at the fantastic MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. Due to COVID my family wasn't able to physically be with me for my surgery, they were unable to travel to the US from England. My girlfriend at the time, now fiancee, Maria Aloe was my rock throughout the whole experience, she truly was amazing with her love and support.

I've always prided myself on being very fit and running has always been a passion of mine. The road to recovery since surgery hasn't been easy, I initially found it hard to reach the fitness levels pre surgery, but slowly and surely I know I'm reaching a new level of fitness and health now that my heart has been healed.

I want to raise money by running a marathon with my brother James in our hometown of Eastbourne, England, to benefit the Heart Center and Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital.

Due to my fitness level and overall good health I was only in hospital 3 days after the surgery before getting discharged to start my recovery at home in Greenville, South Carolina. What will stay with me forever is the memory of those 3 days in the ICU and step down unit at MUSC. To walk the corridors (very slowly!) and see other patients and families recovering from surgery, some of them babies, left a real mark on me. I want to raise as much money as I can for families like those whose baby boy/girl has just undergone heart surgery, I want to help those families anyway I can with this money, none of us know truly what the babies/children/parents are going through.

With all my heart, thank you in advance for your generosity.

Matt