The
Cardiomyopathy
Association

Colleagues of a doctor who died suddenly from cardiomyopathy have raised over £9,000 in two charity runs in memory of him.
 
Two doctors at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital ran the London Marathon on April 25th – and the rest of the diabetes team joined them in the Great West Run on May 2nd.

Professor Andrew Hattersley, a consultant in diabetes and a research scientist, and consultant Dr Bijay Vaidya raised £6,500 from their 26 mile marathon run. Another 12 people from the diabetes team raised another £2,500 in the Great West Run. But money is still coming in. 

Their 46-year-old colleague and friend Dr Ken MacLeod had just started a tennis match last July when he died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Professor Hattersley said: “ I had known Ken since I started work at the hospital 15 years ago. He was a warm and wonderful person, an excellent colleague, a caring doctor and an inspirational teacher. His tragic death has shocked and deeply saddened everyone. We miss him very much – his death has left an enormous hole.  
 
“The Cardiomyopathy Association is doing wonderful work to provide education and information on cardiomyopathy to medical professionals and to support affected patients and their families. So we both decided to take part in these runs in Ken’s memory and to raise money for the charity.”

The others who took on the Great West Run, a half marathon at Exeter, were: clinical scientists Sian Ellard, Beverley Shields and Tim McDonald, consultants in diabetes Mollie Donohoe and Mark Daly, specialist nurses in diabetes Tina Sanders and Nicky Hinton, specialist registrar in diabetes Gus Brooks, diabetes dietician Vicky Creese, research nurse in diabetes Kirsty Wensley, GP Phil Courtney and John Tooke, former Dean of the Peninsula Medical School and consultant in diabetes. They were joined by friends and relatives of the group James Hinton, Tim Green and student Rachael Parkhouse.