Brian Blessed launches campaign urging people to look for signs of heart failure

Brian Blessed has launched a new campaign which aims to help people recognise the symptoms of heart failure.

The actor, 84, recorded a video for the British Society for Heart Failure urging the public to be vigilant over signs of heart failure.

He is supporting the charity’s Freedom from Failure – The F Word campaign.

Blessed said: “Ultimately, long story short, I have had a pacemaker put in me and I now feel like a man of 20.”

He added: “I won’t let problems of the heart stop me.

“I think this campaign by the British Society for Heart Failure is vitally important.”

The organisation is advising people to look out for symptoms, including having to fight for breath, fatigue and fluid build-up which is often noticeable around the ankles.

British Society for Heart Failure chair Dr Simon Williams said: “Heart failure is arguably the biggest success story of modern day medicine, we have made extraordinary progress over the last two decades.

“And whilst it remains a burdensome, often debilitating condition, with appropriate management it is possible for people to live well with heart failure.

“Outcomes can be dramatically improved through earlier, faster diagnosis and expediting optimal treatment on to guideline therapies.

“This is an important aim of the care we provide as heart failure specialists.”