A 25-year-old from Aberdare is taking on the Cardiff Half Marathon a year after he underwent open heart surgery to correct a rare defect.
Louis Price had often struggled with a slight shortness of breath when he played sport, but had simply dismissed it as asthma. In summer 2025 things got much worse and he was unable to walk for more than 25 minutes without becoming breathless.
He said: "When I was playing sports I'd always get shortness of breath which I thought was asthma.
"Around July/August 2025 I noticed it was getting quite bad and I'd wake up feeling really, really tired. I had very heavy fatigue and couldn't walk very far before having to stop. I deteriorated quite quickly."
Diagnosis and surgery
Louis had always been active, playing football, rugby and kickboxing. As a baby his parents were told he had common heart murmur but doctors said it was something he would likely grow out of.
However, having increasingly struggled with a really tight chest and fatigue, aged 16 Louis underwent further investigations. He was subsequently diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve which is when your aortic valve only has two flaps of skin which help control blood flow, instead of the usual three.
It meant Louis had to stop playing rugby and football, sports which much of his social life was linked to. "I was really worried because that's where I made the majority of my friends. I was concerned about how I would keep up friendships and things like that.
"I wanted to play at university and I wanted to carry on, so it was difficult to take."
Recovery and new challenge
In the following years, Louis' condition remained fairly stable under regular monitoring. However, at the start of 2025 doctors told him his condition had progressed and he'd need to have open heart surgery.
Louis said: "It was quite scary. When they said it was going to be open heart surgery I thought that would be the only way they'd be able to do it so I knew I had to accept it. It was just very scary. It was a weird experience but now I'm quite comfortable and happy with my scar.
In September 2025 he underwent the surgery at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. It was during the operation that surgeons realised he actually had a much rarer condition, with only one aortic valve - a unicuspid aortic valve.
"I didn't know where I was when I woke up, I couldn't move my arms or my neck for a week so that was quite difficult," he said.
Louis then spent six days in intensive care and before being moved to a normal cardiac ward for a further nine days before he was discharged and able to continue his recovery at home.
The 25-year-old is now taking on the Cardiff Half Marathon for the British Heart Foundation, hoping to raise awareness for younger people with heart conditions. "When I was on my ward I felt like I was the youngest person in there by about 20 or 30 years," he added.
Although he's still unable to play contact sports, Louis is has been given the all-clear to take on the challenging run. He said he just needs to make sure he doesn't fall over while running because he's on blood thinners.
He said: "I decided to sign up to the race after surgery. I’d never had the inclination to run a half marathon before as I was always active outside of running – but when my options for sport became more limited, I wanted to set myself an achievable, yet challenging goal."
