Home MOVIE NEWS Superfit British dad, 51, dies while on seaside holiday run with daughter

Superfit British dad, 51, dies while on seaside holiday run with daughter

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Superfit British dad, 51, dies while on seaside holiday run with daughter

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A superfit British father died while running on holiday in France with his daughter.

Former rugby player Grahaeme Thomas, 51, had gone for a seaside jog with his 22-year-old daughter Sioned in the French coastal town of Les Sables-d’Olonne.

The pair were two kilometers into their exercise when Grahaeme, known as Big G, suddenly collapsed.

Nearby beachgoers and ambulance staff rushed to help the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene in the Vendee resort on the French west coast.

Sioned, 22, said: “He was an amazing dad. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him – and he’d do anything for me and my sister.

“It happened so quickly, but I just didn’t know what to do. It was so frightening.”

“He was quite a fit guy and he was a really well-known figure at Caerleon RFC where he used to play as a forward.”

Grahaeme Thomas, 51, collapsed during a seaside run

His family discovered that Grahaeme, of Caerleon, South Wales, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

His daughter added: “He had no symptoms whatsoever. It wasn’t like he’d been complaining of chest pains or anything.

“That’s what makes it all even harder to take. I was speaking to him literally seconds before he collapsed.”

After he died in July, doctors discovered the man had an inherited undiagnosed heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Grahaeme, pictured with his wife Lesley, was a former rugby player

It causes the muscle wall of the heart to become thickened and make the heart muscle stiff.

Sioned is now running the Cardiff Half Marathon to raise awareness of the condition.

She said: “I want to raise money for British Heart Foundation’s research into inherited heart conditions.

“I’m not a natural runner but I want to do something for my dad and to help other families who are affected by heart diseases.

“The last few months have been really hard for me and my family, and I’m determined to do this for my dad.”

She set a target of £300 but has already raised almost £2,500 for the charity.

Sioned, pictured with her late father, is now running the Cardiff Half Marathon and has already raised £2,500 for the charity

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Adam Fletcher, head of BHF Cymru, added: “I’d like to thank Sioned for her incredible courage in choosing to run her first half marathon for us so soon after the loss of her father.

“It’s thanks to people like Sioned choosing to support the BHF that we can keep funding pioneering research which has led to the genetic testing for HCM and other inherited conditions that is now available across the UK.

“Our aim is to ensure people who have inherited conditions are identified and treated to prevent a needless loss of life.”

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