Mayor Mary Blake joins with representatives of the British Heart Foundation for the charity's Mending Broken Hearts Appeal.

CHARITY bosses are today hoping to raise awareness of the effects of heart failure, after new figures revealed more than 5,000 people in Ipswich suffer from the condition.

A new campaign by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal, has seen an advert released depicting a man whose lungs are filling with fluid, leaving him struggling to breathe, as a result of heart failure.

The condition is commonly caused by a heart attack but a survey by the BHF has shown 81 per cent of people in the East of England are unaware of the impact heart failure has on people’s lives.

The survey also revealed 41pc of people in the region didn’t know heart failure meant the heart still works but everyday is a struggle.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, said: “More and more people are surviving heart attacks due to the huge advances we’ve made in cardiology, but that isn’t the end of the story.

“A heart attack causes damage which can leave a person facing a horrendous daily struggle.”

There are currently more than 5,200 and volunteers from the charity are calling on people in the town to fund research into medicine which could cure heart failure.

Ipswich recently became one of 50 Heart Towns, a partnership with the charity. It is hoped this will lead to more funding from people in the town for research into heart conditions and cures.

Mayor of Ipswich, Mary Blake, said: “Ipswich is proud to be a Heart Town and as such we are delighted to be supporting the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal to raise awareness of heart failure as well as funds to combat it.”

■ To donate funds to BHF, visit www.bhf.org.uk/findthecure