Richard and Bruce's story

Richard’s father, Bruce had a cholesterol test as part of an NHS Health Check, when his cholesterol was to be found to be extremely high, at 10m/mol

“Dad recalls things moving fast. His GP and specialist wanted to know our whole family history.” Bruce’s mother had a heart bypass due to angina and one of her brothers died many years earlier aged only 33 years old due to heart problems, her mother also died fairly young due to a heart related condition, and so it went on. 

Given my father’s family history, the experts decided he had inherited high cholesterol, possibly FH”

Bruce was prescribed a statin which brought his cholesterol down. This was not the end however, and the specialist suggested Richard and his brother also be tested. They were 14 and 16 at the time. Richard’s brother, Chris, proved to be OK but his own levels were high.

“My father felt I was too young to be prescribed statins at that time and consulted a second specialist, but he also recommend them after a diet only route proved unsuccessful! I was 15 when I starting taking the medication and still am.”

Despite initially viewing the diagnosis of raised cholesterol as a setback, Richard now thinks it’s had an overall positive impact on his life, giving him an even better reason to go mountain biking, windsurfing and sailing.

“I would definitely recommend getting as much information about cholesterol and how to control it and being pro-active about understanding the condition and the treatments available.

Thanks to HEART UK, I also now know there is more than one option available to treat FH."