Leeds postie who 'died three times' backs potentially life-saving heart health programme
“We don’t know what is going in our bodies that well so any help we can get has to be good”
A Leeds postie, who 'died three times' after suffering a cardiac arrest - but lived to tell the tale, is now backing a nationwide heart health programme.
Carl Lockwood, who has served as a postman at the Royal Mail’s Sheepscar office in Leeds for nearly 18 years, received life-saving CPR from a colleague after suffering a cardiac arrest at work in 2019. Since then, he has been championing the importance of early detection and prevention.
Now Carl, and his colleagues at Royal Mail, are among the first to join a new nationwide cholesterol testing programme, aimed at raising awareness of cardiovascular disease in the workplace and support workplace heart health.
The first-of-its-kind initiative by Pharmacy2U, the UK’s largest online pharmacy, will see 100,000 self-test cholesterol check kits and consultations given to businesses nationwide.
“It’s an easy test to take and I think people need to take it up,” Carl told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “It can give fore-warning for any issues and when all is said and done we don’t know what is going in our bodies that well so any help we can get has to be good.
“How many youngsters do you see suddenly falling over from cardiac issues and nobody really knows why at the time. The test is good, the test is there and hopefully other businesses will take up on it.”
Royal Mail is one of the first to join the new Healthy Heart Programme, as part of a shared mission to put employees in control of their heart health. It will offer the self-test digital cholesterol check kits, which can be done in ten minutes at home, via a simple prick of the finger, to all its employees across the country.
The programme aims to encourage awareness and uptake of heart health checks, with just 38 per cent of those invited attending their NHS Health Check1 last year, where cholesterol and heart health issues are usually identified.
Participants will receive a free ‘Healthy Heart Check’, developed with partners PocDoc, which uses a microfluidic test and a smartphone to test cholesterol levels and provide an estimated heart age. Early detection is critical to improving heart health across the UK, and the workplace presents a good opportunity to reach people sooner.
Carl, who now drives vans to deliver parcels rather than walking following his cardiac arrest in 2019, lives with a condition called atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder where the heart's upper chambers (atria) beat chaotically and out of sync with the lower chambers.
“I’ve always been your typical postie – on my feet all day, loving exercise and getting out and about – ultra running, hill walking, the lot,” Carl added. “That was why my cardiac arrest was so unexpected. I’ve done as much as I can to embrace my new version of life, as I know it could have been much worse.
“I’ve died three times: twice intentionally, through cardioversion, and once by accident, through a cardiac arrest. Although I can laugh about it, many others on a daily basis cannot and that’s why what Pharmacy2U is doing is so brilliant.”
Despite adapting his role to driving parcels rather than walking routes, Carl continues to love his job and remains active and positive, reflecting on his experience with characteristic good humour: “It's the way I am.”
Pharmacy2U’s testing programme includes a pharmacist telephone consultation about the test results. A programme of healthy heart information and support is delivered to their inbox over 8 -10 weeks with the option to take a second test where appropriate.
The nationwide testing programme follows a 2025 study from Pharmacy2U into the effectiveness of at-home cholesterol testing. The study found one in four Brits aged 40-74 have never had their cholesterol checked, despite cardiovascular disease causing around a quarter of UK deaths (roughly 170,000 annually).
Kevin Heath, CEO, Pharmacy2U said: “When life gets busy, health checks are often the first thing to fall to the bottom of the to-do list. Bringing cardiovascular testing into the workplace makes it easier for people to access checks without taking extra time out of their day.
“We’ve worked with Royal Mail for over 25 years, so this gives us a chance to give back to one of our longest-standing partners, and the employees who deliver millions of prescriptions for us every year. We are proud to be rolling this out nationwide, to promote early detection and do our part in helping to improve the heart health of thousands of people across the UK.”