Rebecca asks is our research will mean an end to heart surgery and heart attacks

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks for joining our live chat and for asking a question.

The main aim of the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal is to fund research that would repair heart muscle that has been damaged by a heart attack. That damage can cause heart failure, which can be a debilitating condition and currently affects around three quarters of a million people in the UK.

So, we hope that it will mean an end to heart transplant surgery – which currently is the only option for people with severe heart failure.

We already spend around £70 million a year on research, much of which is aimed at preventing heart attacks and the need for heart surgery. The regenerative medicine research funded by the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal will be in addition to this.

Since we began in 1961 the death rate from heart attacks has more than halved. But there’s still a long way to go.