Victoria Collier called our telephone helpline in April 2006. Her husband of only three months, Peter, had recently died unexpectedly whilst playing football. He was thirty six years old.

It was found that he had severe atherosclerosis, probably caused by FH. Peter had never had any symptoms to suggest that he had FH. He had never had a cholesterol test.

Peter has a son, aged nine, who was sent to see Dr Stephanie Matthews and her team in Cardiff. He was tested for FH and was found not to have inherited the condition. Victoria has continued to encourage members of Peter’s family to be tested and recently his cousin was found to have definitely inherited FH. Other members of Peter’s family are currently waiting for their test results.

Victoria felt very strongly that she wanted to raise awareness of the importance of early cholesterol testing, to help try and identify other people with this silent disease. Victoria has organised a fundraising evening in memory of her husband and has donated £3000 to HEART UK.