The Undertones Billy Doherty drums up support

Billy Doherty from The Undertones drums up support for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke

Billy Doherty, drummer with local rock band The Undertones, suffered a major heart attack and stroke in 2017. Now, well on the road to recovery, he has become a passionate ambassador for health charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS).

Billy first realised that something was seriously wrong after a gig in Dublin;

“I felt a pain in my arm and could feel a sore throat coming on. I assumed I was getting a cold and that the painful arm was caused by hours of drumming.

I was wrong.

Within a couple of days, I was in hospital, where an ECG and blood tests showed I was about to have a major heart attack. I was taken immediately to the operating theatre, where I had two stents inserted into my coronary arteries. (Stents help to keep the blood vessels open and maintain a good flow to the heart).”

Just a week later, when recovering at home, Billy suffered a stroke;

“I suddenly had a pain in the top of my head. By the time the paramedics arrived, my speech was very slurred, and I had lost the power in my arms. Physically, I have made an excellent recovery. But the shock has been tremendous. To be honest, it floored me.”

Shaken by his experience, Billy contacted NICHS.

“As the leading local charity fighting these illnesses, I wanted to join forces with them in warning people about the signs and symptoms. I would really recommend having a regular health check with your GP or with the charity. I’m a fit guy, not overweight, don’t smoke and hardly drink, I had no idea this was creeping up on me.”

Billy especially wants to support the charity’s mission to fund medical research as he accredits forward-thinking research for saving his own life:

“If it hadn’t been for the pioneering work of doctors who developed the first stents in the 1970s and 80s, my story could have turned out very differently.” Billy Doherty

NICHS are currently funding the research of Dr Qiaozhu Su’s at Queen’s University, which could produce a simple and cost-effective way of combating heart disease using fenugreek, a common cooking spice. Likewise, the charity is funding Dr Chris Watson’s research, also at Queen’s, which aims to develop a blood test to provide an early warning of the condition.

Billy says, “When, like me, you’ve had a close brush with death, you realise how important it is to help NICHS fund the next generation of heart research – research that will save a life like mine in the future.”

If you would like to learn more about the ground-breaking research we support please go to https://nichs.org.uk/researchpolicy/research