Barry's Story & Wish....
Barry Passfield, father of BraveHeart MMA promoter Rachel Passfield, suffered two heart attacks in 1997 and underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery. The nurses at the cardiac rehabilitation unit at Harefield Hospital helped Barry make a miraculous recovery. In this time, Barry learnt that the unit was completely self funded.
Barry decided to organise a charity bike ride where he would cycle on his own from Kingston to Brighton to raise £1,000 to help towards buying new machinery for the cardiac rehabilitation unit.
With local business interest and media, there was a huge offering to help. On 22nd August 1999, fifty one other cyclists joined Barry on the cycle ride from Kingston to Brighton. That day, Barry raised £18,253.90.
Two years later, in 2001 he set up a second cycle ride, a carbon copy of his first and raised a further £11,500, totalling just under £30,000 – completely smashing his original target.
The fact that Barry was able to participate in a bike ride from Kingston to Brighton within two years of a quadruple bypass gives credit to the nurses and the programmes ran at the unit.
Unfortunately in 2010, Barry's heart disease returned and in December of that year, his recovery wasn't as miraculous as his first and he passed away.
