'I got a pacemaker aged 9 - now I run marathons'

A man who had a pacemaker fitted when he was just nine years old has gone on to complete two marathons.

Kieran Cooper, of Blackpool, Lancashire, was born with a heart condition and was never allowed to play sports as a child.

He said he found this incredibly difficult but "thankfully there is a different mindset nowadays".

Kieran told how he has since gone on to run two marathons on behalf of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and has also become an ambassador for the charity.

He also does stand-up comedy, running his own venue the Small and Shouty Comedy Club.

"In my own routine I build in jokes about my heart condition and the operations I've had," he said.

"I suppose it is looking at something that could be frightening – because I have had to have many operations and procedures – and making fun of it."

Kieran said he believed he was one of the youngest children in the UK to have a pacemaker fitted when he had the operation in 2000, and it gave him "a brand new lease of life".

The father-of-one said BHF was "especially important to me".

"I had so many operations throughout my childhood. From being a baby to about 11, operations on my heart were all I knew."

He said when he was really young he did not understand was what going to happen to him "so I was scared" but "it became less scary when I was a teenager".

Kieran said as he grew older he began to focus on the positives, just as medics had told him.

After he got married to his wife Mollie and they had their daughter, Emily, he was "more worried about them than about myself," he said.

"The first procedure I had after Emily was born was having the pacemaker replaced and I was worried that when Emily came to see me she would be scared, so I explained as much as possible to her about what it was for and what it would be like in hospital."

"Nothing has ever gone wrong. I trust the doctors and medical science."

The BHF said every year about 50,000 people in the UK are fitted with a pacemaker, which is a small device that helps to manage abnormal heart rates and rhythms.

Early pacemaker devices developed in the 1960s were bulky, used a lot of power, and had to be recharged in a hospital, the charity said.

But BHF funding has contributed to advances in the technology and paved the way for more modern and sophisticated versions.

"Because of this progress, modern pacemakers give thousands of people the chance to live longer, healthier lives with the people they love," the charity added.

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