Cannock heart attack survivor keeps charity logo close to his heart as he marks 60th birthday
A Staffordshire man has marked his 60th birthday by getting a permanent reminder of the heart charity whose research helped save his life.
Ian Reeves, who lives just outside Cannock with wife Jackie, has had the British Heart Foundation (BHF) logo tattooed on his chest to fulfil a promise he made to himself after surviving two heart attacks more than a decade ago.
After getting out of hospital following the second heart attack aged just 49, Ian said he would do something for the BHF if he made it to 60.
He ruled out running a marathon but inspired by his children who have tattoos themselves, Ian came up with the idea to have the iconic red heart logo inked on to his chest.
As well as making sure he had a reminder of the heart charity wherever he went, Ian also raised more than £650 in sponsorship for BHF.
The money included the fee for the tattoo which was waived by the artist.
Ian, who used to be a judo coach, said his two heart attacks happened within days of each other in February 2012.
“I had been to judo and had a pain in my shoulder but thought I had just pulled a muscle or something so took some painkillers and it stopped hurting after a couple of hours,” he said.
“A couple of days later I wasn’t feeling so good, so I asked my wife to get me an appointment at the doctors as I thought I had a chest infection.
“However, when I got home and walked through the door, she took one look at me and immediately rang for an ambulance.”
It was confirmed in the ambulance that Ian was having a heart attack, and after an angiogram at the hospital a consultant told him it was his second – what he thought was a pulled muscle a few days previously had been something much more serious.
Over the next 12 months Ian was back and forth to the hospital where they discovered he had a blood clot in one of the chambers of his heart.
He was on blood thinners to get rid of the clot and also had two stents fitted the following year.
But it was when he first came out of hospital that he started thinking about doing something to show his thanks for all the support he had received.
“I told my family how grateful I was for everything and that if I got to 60 – which at times I must admit I wasn’t 100 per cent sure I would - I would do something for the BHF,” said Ian.
"But I did make it to 60 and although I can’t do all the things that I used to, I wanted to fulfil that promise I made all those years ago so I started thinking about what I could do.
“Obviously doing a marathon or something like that was out of the question but I was inspired by three of my children who have tattoos.
“I thought at my age I'm not going to go mad and have anything big but I was flicking through the BHF newsletter and saw the logo and thought yes – that is the ideal thing because I really don’t think I would have lived this long if it wasn’t for the work of the British Heart Foundation and my brilliant doctors."
BHF fundraising manager Phoebe Williams said: “This is such a lovely story – Ian's tattoo looks amazing and it’s nice that he has a permanent reminder of what he has been through and what an inspiration he is to others.
“Thank you Ian for your support – the money you have raised will be used to help fund life-saving research and help us beat heartbreak forever.”
