A post-mortem examination found blocked coronary arteries and hypertension as the cause of Derek’s sudden death on February 24.<\/p>\n
In the months before Derek died, he experienced a persistent cough, toothache and heartburn, but neither he nor Terry had any reason to suspect an underlying heart problem.<\/p>\n
Terry said: \u201cHe was the kindest, loveliest man and always saw the positive in everything. We were kindred spirits, looking forward to many years of happiness, where we could just be ourselves, together, until that was cut short.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had worked in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and considered myself informed about medical conditions and symptoms, but this caught me completely unawares. Finding out afterwards that the signs might have been there felt like a dagger to my heart. I kept thinking, \u2018What if I had known?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Derek\u2019s death, Terry has encouraged friends and family to attend health<\/a> checks, take prescribed medication and seek advice when symptoms persist. He booked a full health review with his own GP and now hopes that sharing their story will prompt others to act.<\/p>\n Terry Rice with his husband, Derek Waters, who died suddenly in February following a heart attack<\/p>\n Terry is sharing Derek\u2019s story to encourage people to understand their family <\/a>history, recognise that heart attacks do not always cause obvious chest pain and seek advice about their cardiovascular risk. He hopes that greater awareness and earlier checks could help prevent another family experiencing the same sudden loss.<\/p>\n As many as 500 families could be spared the heartbreak of losing a loved one prematurely to cardiovascular disease in Northern Ireland <\/a>each year, according to a new British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland (BHF NI) report launched this past week at Parliament Buildings Stormont<\/a>.<\/p>\n Northern Ireland\u2019s Hearts Need More: Making prevention a priority warns that cardiovascular disease remains one of the country\u2019s leading causes of death, killing around 4,400 people a year.<\/p>\n In 2024, 1,330 people died from cardiovascular disease<\/a> before the age of 75 \u2014 the highest annual number of premature cardiovascular deaths in Northern Ireland since 2010. BHF estimates that up to 2,500 premature cardiovascular deaths could be prevented over the next Assembly mandate through public health interventions.<\/p>\n Affectionately known as Del and Tel, the couple had been together for eight years and married for two and a half<\/p>\n The charity said many of these deaths are not inevitable. Major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity and diabetes, can often be identified and better managed before they lead to a devastating heart attack or stroke.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should know that it is okay to ask about their heart health,\u201d Terry said. \u201cWe need to get beyond the feeling that we are bothering doctors or that there is no point trying to get an appointment. Better awareness and earlier action, and a system that reaches out to detect and treat could make all the difference.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to do something that might spare another person the pain and the \u2018what ifs\u2019 I have had to live with. Would Del still be alive if we had known more? I cannot answer that. But if sharing our story reaches one person and prompts them to act, it will have made an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Terry woke to find that Derek had died in his sleep from cardiac arrest caused by a heart attack<\/p>\n BHF Northern Ireland says stronger prevention could help stop up to 500 people dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease each year.<\/p>\n With an Assembly election due in 2027, BHF NI says the next political mandate represents a critical opportunity to change that picture. It is calling on every political party to commit to reducing premature cardiovascular deaths and back practical measures that prevent disease before people become seriously ill.<\/p>\n More than 230,000 people in Northern Ireland are living with cardiovascular disease \u2014 230,000 hearts that need more \u2014 and cardiovascular conditions directly lead to around 28,000 hospital admissions each year. Around 70% of the cardiovascular burden is associated with modifiable risk factors, which are very often preventable.<\/p>\n Health Minister Robbie Butler with Head of BHF NI Fearghal McKinney, Lucy Huffington from Portstewart, who lost her father Garry suddenly to a heart attack in September and Terry<\/p>\n An estimated 400,000 people in Northern Ireland have high blood pressure, including as many as 100,000 who may be undiagnosed and unaware of the serious health risks it can pose.<\/p>\n Fearghal McKinney, Head of British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland, said: \u201cBehind these figures are hundreds of families who could be spared the heartbreak of losing someone they love too soon. Cardiovascular disease remains one of Northern Ireland’s biggest killers, but too often we are waiting until people become seriously ill instead of finding and managing their risk earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know many of the things that put people’s hearts at risk, and we know more can be done to tackle them. With an Assembly election approaching, every political party now has an opportunity to commit to a healthier future by making the prevention of cardiovascular disease a priority.<\/p>\n \u201cNorthern Ireland does not lack the evidence to act. What we can’t afford is to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Affectionately known as Del and Tel, the couple had been together for eight years and married for two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3017,2864,59,102,31040,1647,2205,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-812964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-co-derry","tag-family","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-newry","tag-northern-ireland","tag-real-life","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1_Terry-Rice-and-Derek-Waters-pic-2JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Affectionately](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0_Terry-Rice-and-Derek-Waters-pic-1JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0_Terry-Rice-and-Derek-Waters-pic-3JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0_Hearts-Need-More-Health-Minister-pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n