Rita Sutton, our Chair of Trustees. Rita is married with two grown up children and five grandchildren. Rita retired in 2016 after working in the charity sector for more than 30 years and prior to that for Social Services, Children & Families division. Rita is passionate about the work she did as Operations Director for a medium sized educational charity, working in the field of early years and primarily with disadvantaged children and their families.
In 2015 Rosie who was two years old and Rita’s youngest grandchild as she was then, was diagnosed with Restrictive Cardiomyopathy. The family were told that most likely a virus had attacked her heart and that this was a rare one in a million condition. At some stage Rosie would need a heart transplant. After a very difficult and unpredictable eight months Rosie was in end stage heart failure and placed on a mechanical heart “Berlin Heart”. She subsequently received the most precious gift of a heart transplant in July 2016.
Having retired, Rita was keen to remain involved in the charity sector but this time in a voluntary capacity. Rita became a Trustee for Cardiomyopathy UK in January 2016. She stepped down in 2019 for family reasons. Later that year Rita was honoured to be the recipient of the charity’s Carolyn Biro Award for her contribution to the charity. Rita re-joined the Board in 2020 and took up the position as Chair in January 2021. Rita is acutely aware of the emotional impact a diagnosis can have on the family especially when the patient is a young child. She is committed to ensuring that families get the support and reassurance they need when a loved one is diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy.