Ben Aldred suffered a cardiac arrest in October 2022 whilst preparing to join a Cricket Academy in Adelaide, Australia. He was with family in Perth and luckily through a combination of CPR, swift action and the amazing care given in Joondalup Hospital, Perth, Ben survived and is now back in England, playing Prem Cricket for Bexley CC and preparing to start university in September.
Ben was an extremely fit and healthy 18yr old when he suffered his cardiac arrest and it has since been discovered that he has a heart valve abnormality which could have been identified through an echocardiogram so 6 months after this traumatic event, Ben vowed to start raising funds to get his fellow cricketers all fully screened.
He launched his MyHeart Fund alongside a JustGiving page and we have just completed our first major fundraiser where we ‘rode’ a static bike for 24hrs a day for 7 days during Bexley Cricket Club’s annual cricket week and our aim was to virtually visit all 18 County Cricket Grounds.
We managed to keep the wheels turning constantly and had 241 individual riders with the eldest being 77yrs old and the youngest 6mths! We covered 3,023 miles in 170 hours and managed to visit all county grounds twice, making it halfway round a third third lap!
Virtual sessions took place in Australia, Florida, Majorca, Lanzarote & Dorset with family and friends wanting to take part and we managed an astonishing average speed of 17.7 miles an hour thanks to some amazing performances from some extremely fit cyclists!
The event was managed by Ben, his brother Jack, parents Dan & Donna as well as best friend George Palmer, who cycled an amazing 149 miles over the week whilst functioning on very little sleep!
The event has raised an incredible £19,282 to date and we have just booked our first screening weekend in January 2024.
Thank you to all who got involved with special thanks to Cobham Marquees, Fusion Lifestyle and Cellar Head who all donated equipment and funds throughout the week and in terms of individuals there are too many who gave up their time and went above & beyond.
Thank you also to our local MP Louie French who not only mentioned our fundraiser in Parliament but also took the time out to visit us during the week.
Our plan going forward is to keep raising funds so that we can offer annual screening and plans are already being discussed for Cricket Week 2024!
