“Shopping is a struggle and I constantly feel guilty asking for sit-down breaks, but I can’t keep up with my friends and I know my body needs to rest,” she explains.

In March 2012, Laura was diagnosed with DCM after fainting in her local swimming pool – just weeks before her 18^th birthday.

“My heart had gone into dangerously fast rhythm and I had to be pulled out. The next day, I was diagnosed with heart failure,” she says.

“The worst of it was seeing my parents’ faces crumble around me - it was an actual heartbreak,” she adds.

Like many, Laura assumed a typical heart patient was elderly, overweight, or a smoker and being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy was the result of an unhealthy lifestyle.

“That stereotype will continue until you hear about someone like me,” she points out.

Now heart transplant recipient Laura is joining Cardiomyopathy UK’s Heart Bleeps campaign to lift the lid on society’s misconceptions of how someone with a serious heart condition looks and behaves.

“Most people would never intend to say anything negative, but there have been occasions where I’ve left the lift and while the doors are still open, I’ve heard someone shout ‘lazy’.

“You just have to take a deep breath and think: ‘You honestly have no idea.’ But you can’t help but feel a bit defeated inside by these stupid comments.”

Cardiomyopathy UK Chief Executive Joel Rose says: “Negative attitudes present one of the most significant barriers to those living with cardiomyopathy, but it doesn’t have to be this way.”