Welcome! An introduction to my blog.

Hi there and welcome to my blog. Before I make any proper posts, I think it's only right that I give you an introduction on who I am, and what I'm doing. If you're still interested after that, then I promise I'll make this blog worth following, and any comments or support you may have will be welcome.

Basically my name's Bryn Davies, I'm a 19 year old guy from Stratford upon Avon, and I work as the gear editor at Adventure Travel magazine and Adventure Bike Rider magazine. I've always been into outdoor pursuits, and I climbed my first mountain when I was five (it was Snowdon in case you're wondering), 10 years later and I had scaled the Eiger (in doing so possibly becoming the youngest person to summit the mountain), and the year after that, Mont Blanc.

In my spare time I loved playing rugby, going to the gym, mountain biking, climbing, skiing, and doing just about anything outdoorsy. That was until 2009, when I found out that I had heart disease. My aortic valve was leaking and regurgitating blood back into the heart, making it work extra hard to get blood and oxygen around my body (I knew there was a reason why I couldn't even stand up on the summit of Mont Blanc!).

Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine the effect this would have on a teenage lad who loved being active. I was told to stop lifting weights in the gym, and to stop playing rugby, basically I had to stop doing everything that I loved, and then in the summer of 09, just before my final A level exams, I found out that my heart would need to be operated on.

Three months later and I was lying in the intensive care unit of the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham. I could barely move and I had a 7-8 inch scar down my chest. I had just undergone open heart surgery and my aortic valve had been replaced with a Bovine tissue valve (yep, I have a bit of cow heart in me), but nonetheless I made a speedy recovery and I was out of hospital after just six days.

I decided that I would try to regain my fitness almost immediately, and I went on short walks, first to the end of my drive, and then longer walks until eventually I was able to walk around the block with the help of my mom and girlfriend.

I thought I was making good progression, but then I was called back in to hospital in October. A month after my heart surgery, it was discovered that I had a false aneurysm in my groin (basically, my artery had a hole in it). The angiogram I had in June had gone wrong and my femoral artery was leaking blood into a pocket in my groin, and it needed to be operated on, sharpish.

A week after the artery repair surgery I was back home again, and raring to go more than ever! Just a month after and I was trying to get back into the gym and lifting weights. This was, rather obviously, a bad move and by January (just four months after my heart surgery), I found myself lying in a hospital bed for the third time after being sent in by my doctor after I had complained of chest pains.

So, we'll skip forward a few months, to August 2010. Despite being told I probably shouldn't be doing this, I somehow managed to cycle 700 miles around Europe in three weeks. This was the start of my comeback!

Now my sights are set on another goal for me. In May 2011, I'm going to be running the Stratford upon Avon half marathon. It may sound like a small thing to most of you readers, but this is a big, big thing to me, and the start of even bigger things!

There was something I noticed as I was lying in my hospital bed after the surgery. Every single patient in there must have been 60 years older than me. People my age shouldn't have to go through these things, hell, nobody should have to go through these things, but they do. When I run the half marathon in May, I'm going to be running it for the British Heart Foundation. They provide help and support for so many people and families in the UK who are suffering from, or are being affected by heart disease, and the least I can do is help them back.

So, there's a brief introduction to me. I'll be updating this blog as often as possible with any thoughts, tips, ideas etc. I have on running, heart disease, or just about anything really. I'd appreciate all the help and support you can throw at me, and please, if you'd like to, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Cheers
Bryn