Beat SCAD hosted an online event on 25 September to update supporters on our activities and the SCAD research.
Chair Trustee Rebecca Breslin kicked off by thanking all the volunteers who have helped us this year. From patients telling their stories to help educate healthcare professionals, to people using their IT skills to help our systems become more automated and efficient, all our volunteers have made major contributions.
Rebecca discussed how the fundraising our supporters have done have enabled us to donate money to the research project, which in turn has led to findings that have contributed to the global research effort and many research papers on SCAD. Despite the Covid pandemic, our supporters have done some fantastic fundraising, so thanks go to everyone who has contributed.
There have been various awareness activities this year, mostly online due to Covid. This included an article by Lottie Moore, Public Policy Analyst, who interviewed Trustee Sarah Coombes about gender bias within healthcare. Click here to read the article in the Hospital Times.
In terms of support, our Buddy Service was launched in November 2020 and has so far received 22 requests for support. Our Buddies are all volunteers who have had a SCAD and help support newly diagnosed patients. In the majority of cases, just one ‘heart to heart’ chat is all patients need, but others need more ongoing support, which our Buddies are very happy to provide.
Following Rebecca’s update, she introduced a film created by Aimy Stevens. Aimy’s mum, Anita, died following a SCAD two years ago and Aimy wanted to make a film about SCAD in her memory. We played a short film explaining why Aimy wanted to make the film and how Beat SCAD and some patients helped her. Click here to watch the film, This is SCAD.
FMD
Karen Rockell, Trustee, interviewed Dr Tina Chrysochou, Consultant Nephrologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Sciences within the School of Medical Sciences, Salford Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust about Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD). Dr Crysochou explained what FMD is and discussed the FMD Registry which is due to launch soon.
SCAD research
Rebecca then introduced a recorded interview she had done with Dr Alice Wood, who has recently finished her research fellowship on the SCAD research team in Leicester. Dr Wood researched SCAD in men and recurrent SCAD. She is currently analysing the results of the tests done on patients and healthy volunteers, after which she will write up here thesis and hopefully submit papers to journals.
Dr David Adlam, Associate Professor of Acute and Interventional Cardiology at University of Leicester & Honorary Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at University Hospitals Leicester, who is leading the SCAD research in the UK then took the floor and discussed the various research papers that have been published over the last couple of years.
We then had a Q&A session where Dr Adlam answered many questions about SCAD, migraines, hormones, the menopause and more.
Thanks to everyone who attended and those who couldn’t attend but sent in questions, to Aimy Stevens for her very emotional but inspirational film and to Dr Adlam, Dr Crysochou and Dr Wood for taking the time to talk to us.
