A BEREAVED fiancée from Ross-on-Wye is running the Cardiff Half Marathon in October in memory of her partner who died from a cardiac arrest.

Stuart Simpkins was just 46 when his partner, Mandy Morgan, a care worker, found him unresponsive in bed after she arrived back at the couple's home following a night shift in January 2022.

Mandy and her daughter Max, who was aged 15, both performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on Stuart and called 999 for an ambulance, but sadly the medics were unable to save him.

Stuart had previously been diagnosed with heart valve disease and was fitted with a pacemaker, a small electrical device inserted beneath the skin of the chest, which regulates a person's heart rate.

Mandy, a mother of five, said: “The night before, we had driven home from Stuart’s hospital check-up watching the sunset. Stuart headed off to work for the evening, I gave him a quick hug and kiss goodbye and then got ready for my night shift.

“While I was working, we chatted through social media until midnight when he said, ‘Goodnight, see you in the morning’.”

“When I arrived home the next morning from work Stuart wasn't up. The bedroom was in darkness, and I went in to kiss him good morning like I had done so many times before, only this time he was unresponsive and not breathing.

“I called 999 and then my daughter and I started CPR. The police and paramedics came and took over but unfortunately it was too late.

“That morning, we lost our hero, a dad, a stepdad, a grandad, a brother, a son, a friend - and my whole world.”

The couple got together in 2019 after many years of being friends and had been planning to get married in June 2023.

Now Mandy is preparing to remember Stuart by running the Cardiff Half Marathon and raising funds for the British Heart Foundation on October 5.

Mandy said: “When Stuart was in hospital, the British Heart Foundation provided the information about his heart condition and the pacemaker.

“After he passed away and when I needed answers or to feel less alone, I used the foundation’s website again and I used it to signpost friends and family to the importance of learning CPR through its online RevivR training.

Mandy added: “We never got our ‘happily ever after’, but if raising vital funds can help another family from going through the heartache we have, then that would be an amazing achievement in memory of our hero Stuart Simpkins, who is always loved, never forgotten – and forever in our hearts.”

Zoe Roberts, fundraising manager at the BHF said: “We are so grateful to Mandy for raising funds in memory of Stuart. This is Mandy’s first half marathon, so we know what a huge achievement it will be for her both physically and emotionally.

“It is only through donations and fundraising like this that the foundation can fund ground-breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases.”