Help find cures for deadly heart conditions like dilated cardiomyopathy.

In the space of 24 hours, 17 month old William went from shopping happily with his mum for a father’s day present, to end-stage heart failure and needing a heart transplant.

At 5pm on the 30th of August, 17 month old William was having a lovely time jumping off the couch.

By later that night he was on life support, teetering on the edge of life and death.

 William was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

 (Dilated cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, usually starting in the left ventricle (your heart's main pumping chamber). The ventricle stretches and thins (dilates) and can't pump blood as well as a healthy heart can.)

For no known reason, this little boy’s heart had swelled to the size of an adult’s.

In the space of a day, what William’s family had been told were gastro symptoms turned out to be a deadly disease. This family’s lives were changed in an instant.

"If your son makes it through the night ... he might just have a chance," William’s parents were told.

Right now Professor Diane Fatkin, who is the Head of the Victor Chang Institute’s Inherited Heart Disease laboratory, is undertaking a 10 year study working with over 200 families in a bid to find the genetic causes associated with 30% of cases of DCM. (It is suspected that a range of issues may cause the rest, including viruses.)

Her research is focusing on slowing down, reducing the severity or possibly even eradicating the risk of further DCM diagnosis in families impacted by the disease.

William has now celebrated his fourth birthday. 

His family count their blessings for every day they have with their son. Transplanted hearts often only last about 10 to 15 years.

William’s parent’s deepest hope is that by the time William’s transplanted heart needs to be replaced, researchers will have come up with a cure.

By making a gift today to help find cures for deadly heart conditions, you will be helping to fund the treatments of the future.

The work our researchers are doing now is what’s needed to create the cures of tomorrow.

Please donate urgently today to help find cures for deadly heart conditions.