Staunton backs heart disease appeal (From Hereford Times)

Staunton backs heart disease appeal

2:08pm Monday 2nd June 2008 in

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Actress Imelda Staunton has thrown her weight behind a new campaign to raise money for research into heart disease.

The Vera Drake star is backing the British Heart Foundation's (BHF) Help a Heart campaign, which aims to raise £1.5 million.

A total of 155 people die prematurely every day in the UK from heart and circulatory disease.

Ms Staunton posed with two-year-old Cordelia Griffin, who underwent open heart surgery as a baby, to launch the campaign.

Cordelia was diagnosed with a congenital condition seven hours after birth, which meant her two main arteries were on the wrong side of her heart.

Ms Staunton said: "By supporting the BHF's Help a Heart campaign you'll be doing your bit to help beat heart disease.

"The money raised this June will go towards funding lifesaving research - making a vital investment in the future heart health of the nation.

"By giving what you can you could be saving families from the pain of losing a loved one to heart disease."

Heart and circulatory disease is the main cause of death in the UK, killing almost 600 people a day.

In 2005, it accounted for more than one in three deaths.