Super fit Chris Pitman never imagined his heart would give out on him.  But it did and he nearly died.  Chris was shocked to discover he was prone to sudden death syndrome because of a hidden condition which made his heart beat too fast - and the exercise which he so enjoyed was actually bad for him.  Here, during Arrhythmia Awareness Week, he describes how he has had to settle for a less active lifestyle.

Until he collapsed and had to be brought back to life by paramedics, Chris Pitman thought he would be the last person in the world to have heart problems. 

Since his teens, he had been a long-distance runner who had completed several marathons – as well as a keen cyclist and occasional triathlete. 

The 55-year-old had no idea that he suffered from a rare heart condition until he had a heart attack three years ago. 

Since his diagnosis, Chris has had to stop the running, cycling and swimming that he loved.  He has also had to give up work. 

But he still coaches promising young athletes, and is helping to raise awareness of sudden death syndrome, a term that covers a range of hidden heart conditions that can lead to unexpected death. 

Chris was lucky he didn’t die.  Often the symptoms are not investigated until it is too late. 

“The earliest experiences of the heart condition were in my teens.  I used to get short of breath,” said Chris. 

“I first went to my GP when I was about 18 but he said it was panic attacks.” 

As a teenager, he was fit and active.  He started running at school and played football. 

In his 20s, he joined an athletics club and began running more seriously.  He has taken part in three London marathons – one as an elite athlete – and countless other high-level competitions. 

He also swam and cycled to keep fit, and completed in triathlons – endurance events that combine running, swimming and cycling.  Until recently, he ran 30 miles every Sunday.  But despite an obviously high level of fitness, Chris noticed things weren’t right. 

“My wife Jane noticed my heart was missing beats and that it sounded all over the place.  The doctor said it was quite normal, and could have been caused by panic attacks, or stress. 

“I remember running along by a river one glorious summer’s day with fish jumping in the river beside me.  I was jogging along and, suddenly, my heart beat really fast and I couldn’t get my breath.  I thought: how can this be stress of a panic attack? 

"When I was training I would start to feel really bad, get tightness in my chest and I couldn’t breathe.  If I walked I would be fine.  I just got used to it happening. 

“It went on for a couple of years and then, every so often, I would get fed up and go back to the doctor.  One of them prescribed me tranquillisers because he said it was panic attacks.” 

One sunny day in June 2002, Chris went for a run with a friend towards a golf course.  They had gone about a mile when Chris began to feel unwell. 

“It was another day when I felt really heavy and awful,” he recalled.  “Then my heart started beating fast and I wasn’t able to get my breath.

“But instead of recovering, I started getting worse.  I tried jogging but I was getting weaker and weaker.  My friend Craig didn’t want to leave me, but I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to keep running, so I sent him to get the car. 

“I sat under a tree: it felt like my strength and everything was fading away.  I sat there thinking: ‘It’s a lovely day.  I don’t want it to be my last.’  I managed to get up. 

“I don’t know how I got there, but I struggled into the reception of the golf course where someone put me in the seated recovery position. 

“I don’t remember too much about it – he called an ambulance, and I didn’t even hear it arrive.  I remember coming round on the way to hospital and being sick. 

“They were pumping oxygen into me.  Then I came round in crash and they were cutting my T-shirt off.  I remember lots of people staring at me and I was in absolute agony.  My chest was so painful. 

“I heard someone say: 'We’re going to give you an injection, which might be a bit painful.’  Then someone said: ‘No response, stand back.  We’re going to have to shock him.’  Then I came round and everything was peaceful.” 

Doctors later told Chris that at one point he had no blood pressure and no heartbeat and for several minutes had been clinically dead. 

He was kept under observation in the cardiac unit for three weeks, while tests, including an MRI scan and electrocardiogram, were carried out so doctors could find out what had happened to him. 

“I’d had a cardiac arrest and ventricular tachycardia (VT) – a rapid heart rate in the ventricles,” said Chris.  Chris was diagnosed with a condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), so rare that it affects only one in 10,000 people. 

ARVC causes the heart’s muscles to become thin because of an abnormal amount of fat and scar tissue in its wall.  It is caused by a faulty gene – the gene that usually gets rid of the dead cells in your body.  But in those affected the gene attacks the heart muscles. 

The body replaces the dead heart muscle with fat and fibre, which are difficult for the body’s electrical impulses to penetrate, causing it to malfunction. 

Chris was fitted with an internal cardiac defibrillator (ICD) to monitor his heart rate, but also to deliver a life-saving shock if it detected his body going into VT or VF again. 

“The hospital said if something happened again, it might be fatal,” said Chris.  “But it’s so rare they didn’t know much about it so, after taking it easy for a bit, I carried on as usual.” 

Six weeks after coming out of hospital, Chris set off his ICD.  “Jane and I were out jogging.  It wasn’t gradual like before.  I just blacked out and fell down, landing on my front.  I could hear the ICD charging.  Then it blew me over onto my back.  They said it would be like a horse kicking me in the chest, and it really was!”

After that, Chris decided he needed to know more about ARVC.  He contacted Professor William McKenna, a leading authority on genetic heart conditions, at St George’s Hospital, London, who said that exercise was probably the worst thing for it because the more blood you pump through your heart, the more it washes away.

"It’s like a stream going into flood and washing the banks away.” 

The hospital was able to test Chris’s two sons, Andy, 33, and Nigel, 30, for the condition.  Luckily neither has inherited it.  “I went from running, swimming and biking several times a week to nothing,” said Chris.  "I also had to give up my job in civil construction engineering and design.  I found that I became very tired very quickly.  I couldn’t even walk home.  That was after being able to run 30 miles and then only stopping because I had run out of time and places to run to.  It’s still the case.” 

While at St George’s Hospital, Chris found some leaflets about a charity called CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) which helps people whose families have been touched by rare heart conditions, like ARVC, that can trigger death. 

He got in touch, and last year he became a representative for the charity.  He has already used his personal experience and knowledge to help one young runner. 

“One of our runners was fainting and collapsing after races,” said Chris.  “I contacted CRY and she got tested straight away.  They found out she had something called vasovagal syndrome. 

“It can be life-threatening.  When you stand up there’s an automatic response where the blood vessels contract to stop the blood falling to your legs and away from your heart and brain.  With vasovagal syndrome the response doesn’t work.  The blood vessels are wide open, so all the blood falls away from the heart and you collapse. 

“They gave her exercises which will help her deal with the condition, and told her that when she finishes a race she should keep running so she doesn’t collapse.” 

It is often active children who are at risk from genetic cardiac problems, and Chris hopes to use his role, both as an athletics coach and CRY representative to raise awareness of some of the symptoms. 

“I want PE teachers and sports coaches to be aware of things like shortness of breath, fainting and feeling dizzy, to know that it can be investigated further,” he said. 

Find out more about ARVC