Each year 30,000 people in the UK suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and less than 10% survive.

Katie Warrington, 26, is one of them.

The once keen runner, of Chalk Road, Gravesend, collapsed and fell unconscious while out jogging in June last year.

She woke up in hospital to be told that her heart had stopped beating for 20 minutes.

Had it not been for the quick thinking of fellow runners who administered CPR, Katie likely wouldn’t have made her recovery.

Subsequently diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a progressive disease of the heart muscle, the impact of her cardiac arrest is still being felt today.

“When I was diagnosed with ARVC, life as I knew it drastically changed,” said Katie.

“I knew I was lucky to be alive, but living with such a devastating condition forced me to give up work in a nursery and it’s affected any plans I had to have children with my partner, as the condition is hereditary.”

All Katie remembers of that fateful morning jog is beginning to feel far more short of breath than she normally would, and then waking up in hospital.

She now lives with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which shocks her heart back into rhythm if she is at a high risk of suffering another cardiac arrest.

“My ICD has already shocked my heart several times and it’s quite scary to think that it could happen at any time and anywhere,” Katie continued.

“I wouldn’t dream of travelling far without someone with me and I can’t even drive until my condition is stabilised.”

“I knew I was lucky to be alive, but living with such a devastating condition forced me to give up work in a nursery and it’s affected any plans I had to have children" - Katie Warrington

Since making her recovery, Katie has been a firm supporter of the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The charity’s pioneering research is key to improving the detection and treatment of conditions like ARVC.

In less than a week’s time she will be fundraising for the BHF by undertaking another challenge — ditching chocolate for an entire month.

Asking a chocaholic to give up Dairy Milk for a month would be like Christopher Robin telling Pooh to take it easy on the honey, but Katie is determined to go treat free in March as part of the BHF’s DECHOX campaign.

More than 18,000 people took part last year, raising around £860,000, and ensuring they all felt far less guilty when the time came to indulge at Easter.

Do you have the willpower to give up chocolate? Sign up at bhf.org.uk/dechox