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Photo: Virginia Galiulina

We are proud to announce that this years’ fashion show will continue to showcase and support young fashion visionaries that have originated from Latvia and Great Britain. In anticipation of the Brillante event, we are honoured to announce that this year we will be collaborating with Alexander Jansons Foundation. A foundation that we believe mirrors our values and makes it their mission to raise awareness and research funds for the Myocarditis.

The decision to partner with the Alexander Jasons Foundation, instead of a plethora of others, became clear after meeting the founder of the charity Andy Jansons. After discovering and understanding Andy’s personal attachment with the devastating effects of the heart condition, all of the Brillante team without hesitation felt utterly compelled to share his story and aid the cause for awareness.

In 2013 Andy’s son, Alexander, sadly passed away from Myocarditis and that was when he decided to devote his time to spread the word about the horrible disease. The Latvian-born philanthropist believes that by educating the general public who might be susceptible sufferers; can help to monitor and reduce the effects of the disease, therefore saving lives in the long-run.

Hence why we thought it was only fitting to highlight a few significant nuggets of information that we learnt on our recent visit to the Royal Brompton Hospital to add more clarity on Myocarditis. The overall takeaway emotion we felt when visiting was how warm-hearted and committed the staff is to finding cure for this indiscriminating disease.

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle and symptoms for this can vary depending on the individual, but can be commonly displayed through range of symptoms. Or alternatively none at all, that for this fact, makes a diagnosis hard to detect.

The cause of the heart condition cannot be standardised into one main factor because of the nature of the virus and can lamentably affect any individual regardless of age or lifestyle. Young people, young males in particular, are at a fair greater risk of falling to the wayside because they are either less likely to visit the GP in time or ill-advised medical professionals are swift to brush them off for appearing to be healthy-looking on the exterior.

Andy aims to continue to inform the masses on Myocarditis through variety of means such as fun social events like sponsored football matches, marathons and skydiving opportunities that combines the father and son’s playful and adventurous spirit.

The charity is also closely affiliated with the Royal Brompton Hospital, in particular with the world-class Dr. Sanjay Prasad who has released ten research papers on the condition. He is currently based at the West London facility and is acting at the forefront of all developments by  directing a three-person research team. They are also currently working alongside a group of biomedical engineers who specialise in nanotechnology.

The whole Brillante team are esteemed with our recent alliance with the Alexander Jansons Foundation and cannot wait to share the activities we have in store.

written by Elizabeth Pascka