A BRAVE Tweedbank mum is running not just for her son next month but for all those with heart disease.
Now 12, Ross Falconer was born with heart failure and immediately needed a pacemaker which surgeons fitted when he was just five days old.
His mum, Lyn, told us: “I am running to help children and adults with heart conditions, like Ross, to lead a normal life and I am also running in memory of all the people who have lost their lives due to heart failure.”
Lyn will line up for the biggest half-marathon in Europe in the Great North Run. Already she has raised £850 online for the British Heart Foundation and she hopes to top the £1,000 mark.
Lyn, with husband Ted, has two other children Christie, 17 and Amy, 19. She was quite far through her pregnancy with Ross when a scan at the Borders General Hospital revealed her baby’s heart was only making 45 beats per minute.
She told us: “I was taken to Yorkhill children’s hospital in Glasgow where we were told Ross had heart failure and would need a heart pacemaker operation as soon as he was born.”
Ross was born six weeks early and was one of the youngest children ever to have a pacemaker fitted, when he was just five days old
Lyn went on: “He was so small the pacemaker had to be put under the skin on his stomach as it didn’t fit under his arm. At two weeks old, Ross had to endure a further heart operation and a blood transfusion and he became very poorly due to problems with his liver and blood.
“It was a really difficult time for the whole family.”
But her son has pulled through: he has had his pacemaker replaced twice, when he was two and again at nine.
Lyn said: “We are very lucky as Ross leads a normal, life unlike a lot of children and adults with heart conditions. He is full of energy and confidence and loves athletics, cycling, swimming, badminton and computer games.”
Lyn, 45, says: “I am trying to raise as much money as I can for the British Heart Foundation to fund research into heart conditions. Without their research, Ross would not have been able to have his pacemaker fitted when he was five days old.”
She started jogging four years ago and says: “At that time I couldn’t even run 100 metres!”
But she’s since had “lots of help” from her Jogscotland group at the Scottish Public Pensions Agency where she works.”
She admitted: “The training for my first half marathon has been really hard, especially with all the rain and cold weather we’ve had this summer, but if it saves just one person with a heart condition then it will be worth it.”
Anyone wishing to donate should visit www.justgiving.com/Lyn-Falconer