I suffered from health anxiety prior to Josh passing away anyway, so it sent me through the roof with my anxiety. “All our tests came back fine – touch wood – but I'm like, how can we all be fine when Josh's was so severe it killed him? It's a lot to take in. It's a lot to process, and Downie says the added anxiety it's brought on is hard. “They got us in really quick, which was amazing,” says Downie, adding that she and her siblings will be monitored “pretty much yearly” from now on. Josh must have had it from a very young age for it to get to the level it did.”īecause it's hereditary (there's a 50/50 chance of the faulty gene that causes ACM being passed on – although not everyone who carries the gene will develop the condition), Downie and her family have all since undergone tests to see if they're affected. With treatment, many people with ACM can live normal lives – but in Josh's case, it hadn't been detected.ĭownie says his heart was “not in a good way”, adding: “One half of his heart was just completely scar tissue and fat and just stopped working. It was later discovered that Josh had a genetic condition called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), which causes the heart walls to weaken due to muscle cells not developing properly. “Just seeing how many people are really trying to push the importance of heart conditions and raising awareness – because I don't think people understand how quickly you need to act if someone has a heart attack or cardiac arrest – it's so, so important for all of us,” says Downie. Hearing other people's stories made a big impression. When they told me what it was, I was like, what is that? Obviously, I know a lot more now.”Īlong with her sister, fellow gymnast Becky, the former Olympian and European Championships medallist attended the British Heart Foundation (BHF) annual Heart Hero Awards last December, which celebrate the fundraisers, lifesavers and health professionals helping make a big difference. Both conditions are a medical emergency however, and a heart attack may lead to cardiac arrest without prompt treatment.īefore what happened to Josh, Downie admits: “I didn't even know the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest. It is different from a heart attack, which occurs when the blood supply to the heart is cut off – but the heart's still pumping and people usually remain conscious and breathing. Immediate treatment with CPR and ideally a defibrillator if there's one nearby, until paramedics arrive, can improve the chances of survival. “Obviously it's going to, but the more that we can try and prevent it, it makes us feel a little bit better in some way if we can try and help others.”Ĭardiac arrest is when somebody's heart suddenly stops beating, causing them to collapse unconscious. “We really don't want anything like that to happen to another family,” she adds of Josh's sudden death from a cardiac arrest while playing cricket in May 2021. But former Team GB gymnast Ellie Downie says becoming a British Heart Foundation ambassador has been helping her cope with the loss of her brother Josh, 24. Nothing can undo the pain of losing a loved one.
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