For more than 60 years, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Heart & Stroke™) has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Its work has saved thousands of lives and improved millions others.
Heart & Stroke™ has funded more than $1.52 billion in heart and stroke research, making it the largest contributor in Canada after the federal government. In that time, the death rate from heart disease and stroke has declined by more than 75 percent.
Vision:
Life. Uninterrupted by heart disease and stroke.
Mission:
Promote health. Save lives. Enhance recovery.
Most people don’t realize that you can suffer from heart disease or stroke even if you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Paul Goldberg was a 50-year old non-smoker who didn't drink and got regular exercise. Yet, he had a severe heart attack caused by a 100% blockage of his main artery.
Like with many other patients of heart and brain disease, Paul’s recovery was more challenging than his initial heart attack. He felt debilitated and suicidal, and it took a long time to find medication he responded well to.
Like so many others, Paul had to find the willpower to get through and stick to difficult physical therapy.
Assessing a person’s heart disease risk is no easy task. But ground-breaking research funded by Heart & Stroke™ could turn that situation around. This research hopes to help predict patients’ genetic predisposition to vascular diseases and could one day help prevent cases like Paul’s.
Despite having a stroke, Michael Reynos was mainly worried about the stress his wife was going through. Despite a few discouraging days, Michael worked hard to learn how to walk again, and was able to go back home after six weeks of intense physical therapy.
Heart & Stroke™ funds many researchers working to reduce the effects of stroke, such as brain damage. Scientists funded by the Heart & Stroke™ Partnership for Stroke Recovery are researching ways to help people like Michael recover.
Heart & Stroke™ runs health promotion and advocacy programs across the country and saves lives every day. But maybe its most valuable gift to people suffering from heart disease or stroke is a renewed perspective and the desire to make the most of life.
Because of the joint effort of employees, volunteers, donors and world-class researchers, Heart & Stroke™ is Canada’s most widely recognized and trusted authority on cardiovascular health today.
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