Raising awareness of heart attack and stroke
By the time you read this newsletter eight Momentum employees will have covered approximately 150km of South Africa’s back roads as they run from Centurion to Durban. The group set out on the 750km run to create awareness around heart disease and stroke and to raise funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa (HSFSA). The eight runners left Momentum’s Centurion head office at 05h30 on Sunday, 19 June 2011 and will average 125km per day over the next six days. They plan to arrive at the Moses Mabhida stadium, Durban, on Friday 24 June. Runners will complete in a relay fashion, hitting the tarmac for 50 minutes at a time, and each completing two sessions per day!
FAnews Online attended the pre-run presentation at Momentum’s head office to meet the runners face to face… They are Stephen van Niekerk, Jurgens Krynauw, Johan le Roux, Jaco Oosthuizen, Rimesh Solari, Brian Gibbon, Bertie Nel and Bertus Visser. Although described by Momentum as “average Joe’s, middle-age and somewhat overweight” the group has been training for the event for some time. The runners we spoke to were in high spirits and nervous about the challenge that lay ahead. Their biggest fear: suffering an injury and letting the rest of the team down.
Beware the silent killer
Murishca Martheze, Head of Communications for HSFSA was on hand to applaud the eight men who were putting their feet on the line to raise awareness of these preventable diseases. Health experts say that as much as 80% of cardiovascular disease can be prevented with good diet, regular exercise and by not smoking. Despite this South Africa records approximately one stroke every six minutes and five heart attacks every hour! Heart disease and stroke are recorded as the second highest ‘killers’ in the country. These statistics are contributed to by the 6.3 million South Africans living with hypertension (high blood pressure), a major cause of heart attack and stroke.
These statistics become more alarming when you consider that local earners are under-insured for death, critical illness and disability. “At Momentum Myriad, the highest claim for long-term risk products are for heart attacks, stroke and cancer and we felt it was our duty to do something radical to make sure that the general public were made aware of this problem,’ said Kevin Letord, Head of Momentum Risk Marketing. “In the end we asked eight guys who work together, who don’t do much exercise and fit the high risk profile we’re talking about to take up the challenge.” Six of the eight runners have above average body mass indexes (BMIs) and five of them high cholesterol!
Show your support
There are a number of ways you can show your support for the event. If you’re on Facebook then we suggest that you visit the event’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BigHeart750 and become a fan! Momentum will donate R25 000 to HSFSA once 5 000 Facebook fans “like” the page. You can also follow news from the road at the event’s blog site http://www.bigheart750.co.za/ or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/BigHeart750.
If you’d like to support this worthwhile charity then you can make a R20 donation to the HSFSA by sending the words “BIG HEART” to 40699. Alternatively you can donate an amount of your choice by going to www.momentum.co.za/BigHeart or following links from the Facebook page. The runners want to raise at least R500 000 for the charity, and Momentum Myriad will match this amount rand for rand.
But the most important step you can take in supporting the Momentum BigHeart750 event is to get tested. Dis-Chem pharmacies, one of the co-sponsors for the event, will offer FREE in-store health assessments over the week of the event. Nurses will be available in-store to offer cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose and body mass index (BMI) screening between Monday 20 June 2011 and Saturday 25 June 2011. We hope each and every one of you will check your health status and seek treatment should any abnormalities or early warning signs show. And of course, we wish the Momentum BigHeart750 team the best of luck in their adventure!
