Gloria opens her heart

By Kate Whiting

GLORIA Hunniford is only too aware of the importance of keeping a healthy heart. The 67-year-old TV presenter lost her first husband to an undetected heart condition and only a year after her wedding to Stephen Way in 1998, he suffered a small heart attack.

Then she discovered she had raised cholesterol, putting her more at risk of heart disease herself.

"I've been aware for five or six years that it was the silent killer," she says, adding that unlike high blood pressure, high cholesterol has no warning signs.

"I have an overactive thyroid, so every time I went to see my doctor, he kept banging on, saying, 'Your cholesterol is too high'. It was 6.9 and it should be 5, so he was worried about it."

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which has been linked to high cholesterol, kills one in three people in the UK. Along with strokes, it is the biggest killer of women, responsible for more deaths than the next five causes combined.

While most women are aware they need to check regularly for signs of breast cancer, cholesterol sometimes doesn't even register, even though it could be responsible for nine times as many deaths.

Women aged over 45 are even more at risk of heart disease due to rising cholesterol levels triggered by the hormonal changes during the menopause, according to research.

But not enough women are aware of the dangers, with a new survey commissioned by Flora showing only 24 per cent associate the menopause with raised cholesterol.

Gloria has teamed up with Flora pro.activ to educate more women about this issue, as part of the Check For Change campaign.

"The menopause affects women in different ways," she says. "I didn't do HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) because of the threat of breast cancer, which runs in our family."

Gloria's daughter, Caron Keating, died from breast cancer in 2004 after a seven-year battle with the disease.

"I do know women who really suffer from night sweats and things but I took alternative medicine and it was really smooth for me.

"The majority of doctors treat the symptoms but they don't tell you what you have to do. For my mother, it was all downhill after the menopause but women now are living longer and cholesterol is a real threat."

Gloria took part in Flora's three-week challenge to cut down her cholesterol - and was amazed by the results.

"It came down to 5.2 over the three weeks, which is the lowest it's ever been," she says. "I heard it could be brought down relatively easily but I had been struggling for three years.

"I had to step up exercise," she says. "I do try to exercise anyway but I rode my static bike every day for 15 minutes.

"On a good day, I'd do 20 to 30 minutes and put it in front of the TV because by the time I'd watched news I'd done the 20 minutes. I have to enjoy exercise or I won't do it!"

Sugary treats were also a no-no. "I don't have much of a sweet tooth for puddings but I have a biscuit and cake cupboard for my grandchildren. I had to put a mental lock on the cupboard," she adds.

"I drank Flora pro.activ drinks, which prevent your gut absorbing bad cholesterol, and when I had those afternoon sugar cravings, I had a yoghurt, so it was very easy to do. I was really pleased!"

Irish-born Gloria has been forced to confront health issues far more than most, after a series of family tragedies.

"My father's family suffers from strokes and my father died of a stroke," she says.

Her husband of 22 years, TV cameraman, Don Keating, died of an instant heart attack at the kitchen table, 12 years after they had divorced in 1985.

"He was the father of my three children and we were still very close as a family - that was a hell of a shock, specially for the children," she says. "He had done all the things right, he played golf and got plenty of fresh air."

Just a year after marrying her current husband, Stephen, he suffered a heart attack.

"We think it was brought on by the death of his brother three weeks earlier from a heart attack. The scary part of it was I always imagined it would be like a stabbing pain but he was saying, 'It's flu, I'm just a bit achy'.

"He had been in the garden on the Sunday - he's a worker, he's always doing gardening and lugging stuff around. He hadn't been lifting heavy loads as normal - but he kept saying, 'There's pressure on my chest'.

"I insisted on calling the doctor and he sent an ambulance, to Stephen's horror. They kept him in until one in the morning and decided it wasn't unduly worrying.

"He was giving a lecture the next day and he insisted on going but the only concession he made was he got a cab," Gloria continues.

"We know now that sometime during that day he had a small heart attack. That night I called the doctor again - and it was quite a young one - he said, 'If it was my dad, I would have him in hospital'.

"I drove him to hospital this time because he didn't want an ambulance. I was absolutely shocked because he's a big strong man and he has a better diet than me," she adds.

"I always felt he did the right things but it was a good warning."

The experience has made Gloria more determined to look after herself and get the message out to others.

"I have always been keen on preventative medicine. I believe we should all give ourselves the best chance," she says.

"Doctors are under a lot of stress time-wise and the Government should spend more time educating people about their health and more on preventative treatment, so they don't have to cope with full hospitals. Eighty per cent of heart conditions are preventable."

Now she's successfully lowered her cholesterol, Gloria is cracking on with her many projects, including filming a series of Cash In The Attic and a new show with John Craven called Castle In The Country for BBC Two.

And she's also working on another autobiography, after 2005's Next To You: Caron's Courage Remembered By Her Mother.

"I'm not allowed to say too much but it is about loss," she reveals. "It's the one thing I have discovered people need help with.

"Strangers have helped immensely with coping after Caron's death, so I decided it to write about what I have learned.

"I receive letters every day from people who say thank you for writing the other book. I wrote it for Caron's children because, with her father dead, I'm the only one who knows the life she lived. This one is a result of the response to the first one.

"Her death has changed the way I look at life because when something this tragic happens, it takes you to a very different space, you realise how precious life is," she continues.

"I take nothing for granted anymore. I treat each day as THE day and live minute by minute.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would lose a daughter. She was a fantastic girl and it's still difficult for me. But it comes to a time when you are dealing with loss, where you have to get back to some normality for the sake of your family."

Gloria says she took Caron's sons, Charlie and Gabriel, on a trip to Disneyland, Paris, during their half-term break recently. Their father, Russ Lindsay, is expecting a baby with his new wife, Sally Meen.

For more information on the Check For Change campaign, go to www.checkforchange.co.uk

MENOPAUSE DANGER

Dr Heather Currie, founder of Menopause Matters Ltd, says: "It's time to put the cholesterol risk to heart health on the map. It's clear that routine cholesterol checks and better education are paramount in preventing unnecessary deaths from heart disease."

Currie, who is Associate Specialist Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, welcomes the Check For Change campaign, adding: "Among the common side effects, such as hot flushes and night sweats, raised cholesterol is a symptom that menopausal women can control. Life is full of misconceptions and it's time to change them and save lives."

Lloyds pharmacy are giving out free Cholesterol And Heart Check tests, that normally cost £15, on the production of a receipt for any two purchases of Flora pro.activ.