Patti's story

Patti was referred to our HeartSmart programme at the Pavilion Leisure Centre. Here, she tells us about her journey to improved health and fitness:

I lost my mobility due to nerve damage to my legs. I was referred to the Pavilion by the physiotherapists at the hospital when I had exhausted the number of sessions allowed under the NHS. By the time I was given an appointment with Mytime Active staff, I was able to walk, but only with extreme difficulty.  

I was not looking forward to coming out of my comfort zone of the hospital setting, but knew that if I was going to improve I would try anything. 

At first I was embarrassed, walking into a fitness facility when I was struggling to even walk. The first staff member to greet me explained the HeartSmart programme and gave me details of the classes. I received a warm welcome and a programme of exercises that were tailored to my needs.

I was gradually improving. After many classes, and having been in the gym environment (which wasn't that scary after all), I made the decision that I would try other regular classes (and there are a whole raft of them to chose from),.

I have had two serious medical issues for which part of the treatments to wellness is prescribed steroids, which can cause extreme weight gain, and together with the loss of mobility I had ballooned up.

With the welcome, encouragement and support of the whole training team I am now fully mobile, energised and at my last checkup at the hospital I had lost 17 kilos over a 10 month period.

Whatever your ambitions, whether it's recovering your health or even entering a championship event, this is a community gym and well worth using. With encouragement  from my niece, I'm now in training for what I can only describe as an SAS style course - YES, ME, who had to come down a flight of stairs on her backside two years ago!

HeartSmart cardiac rehabilitation is our safe, supervised exercise programme run by health experts, designed to help increase your physical activity levels and improve your health and well-being.

Find out more about HeartSmart