Pippa backs £1.5m war on heart disease that killed Frost’s son
THE ‘unfathomable’ death of Miles Frost, son of the late broadcaster Sir David Frost, was a body blow to all who knew the otherwise fit 31-year-old – not least his good friend Pippa Middleton.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s sister revealed her sadness at his sudden passing due to cardiac arrest in July 2015, caused by an undiagnosed genetic condition also suffered by his father.
It was, in part, the inspiration for Pippa’s new British Heart Foundation-backed book of heart-healthy recipes, Heartfelt.
‘The death of Miles was a shock,’ she said. ‘I thought a heart condition was something that happens later in life, but Miles was very healthy and active. It can happen to those in prime condition as well.’
In July, Pippa attended the Frost family’s poignant final Summer Party. Once an annual event held by Sir David for an array of celebrities, it was a highlight of the London party calendar since he began hosting them in 1984.
This summer the event was held in Miles’s memory and to raise money for a fund in his name.
Since losing their brother, siblings George and Wilfred Frost, and their mother Lady Carina, have been determined to do as much as they can to prevent other families from experiencing the same loss.
They are spearheading a drive to raise £1.5million to ensure more families are offered testing that could show they are at risk of the disease that claimed Miles.
In January they launched the Miles Frost Fund in partnership with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and last week spoke of their gratitude to Pippa. ‘The level of commitment she’s given has been amazing and we’re touched by that,’ says Wilfred, 31 a TV presenter. ‘Pippa and Miles were great friends.’ On the morning he died, Miles, a banker, had been boxing and had gone for a run. After he failed to return to the family house, George went out looking for him and discovered him lying on the driveway.
He performed CPR for 11 minutes until an ambulance arrived, but his efforts were in vain.
In the weeks following his death the family learnt that the cardiac arrest was caused by an undiagnosed inherited heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
One in 500 people are born with a genetic defect that causes HCM – the majority have no symptoms and are undiagnosed.
The disease causes the muscular wall of the heart – the myocardium – to thicken, making the heart muscle stiff. This can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and a cardiac arrest without warning.
A child of someone with HCM has a 50 per cent chance of inheriting the condition.
To add to their anguish, five months after Miles died the family discovered in his post mortem notes that Sir David, who died from a heart attack in 2013, also unknowingly had the condition.
Miles’s death might have been prevented if doctors had flagged this up after their father’s post mortem.
Although there is no cure, HCM can be managed with treatments including medication (beta blockers, blood thinners or drugs to slow the heart rate), a pacemaker or an implanted cardiac defibrillator and most people affected go on to lead a normal life.
‘‘It’s still unfathomable that it’s happened but if one life can be saved then Miles’s death was not in vain,’ says Wilfred.
‘Even before we knew about dad having HCM, the realisation that HCM wasn’t a one in a million thing but one in 500 and that there are tests that can identify this, meant we decided to act.
‘The £1.5million we’re trying to raise is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions needed to develop new drugs.
‘It’s a relatively small amount that will have tangible results because the tests exist; it’s a case of rolling them out.’
The brothers have been tested for HCM and given the all clear.
George, 29, who has a rum business, says: ‘This is just what Miles would have wanted to see – he would have wanted us to act and to try to help a huge number of people.’
The next fundraising event is on November 7 with Andrew Lloyd Webber holding a special preview night of his new show School Of Rock at the New London Theatre.
The British Heart Foundation is the UK’s biggest independent funder of cardiovascular research. To donate to the Miles Frost Fund visit milesfrostfund.com