WOMEN across the borough who think they are alone in living with heart disease can now benefit from a virtual support space online.

Currently, 250 women across Bury die each year from heart and circulatory diseases, with new figures suggesting 435,000 women in the North West are affected by the condition.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) wants to dispel the myth that heart disease only affects men and have opened the Women’s Room — a 24-hour forum providing information on heart disease in women.

Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the BHF, said: “Coronary heart disease kills nearly three times as many women as breast cancer.

“Yet as a society we continue to prop up the myth that heart problems are just for men.

“Everything from TV adverts to soap plotlines show men with heart conditions. But it’s incredibly rare to hear about a woman with heart disease.

“As a result, women often feel very isolated when they are diagnosed with a heart condition.

“We want to shout from the rooftops that if you’re a woman living with heart disease you are not alone.

“Our Women’s Room can introduce you to other women just like you.”

For more information: go to bhf.org.uk/women