Around 100,000 people in Ireland are newly diagnosed with heart disease or a stroke every year and one-third of these will die from these illnesses, the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) has said.

According to the charity, almost 280 people are diagnosed with these heart conditions every single day, ‘enough to fill two-and-a-half double decker buses daily'.

"When added to the estimated hundreds of thousands of patients already living with these diseases all around the country, it is not surprising that demand for the IHF's patient information services is fast outgrowing the funding available to support it," it noted.

It pointed out that a person dies from a stroke or heart disease every hour of every day, while every week, a baby, child or teenager dies from sudden cardiac death.

The charity made its comments to coincide with its annual Happy Hearts Appeal fundraiser, which runs from today until Saturday.

"The reality is that every time you finish watching your favourite one-hour TV show, another man, woman or child has died from heart disease and stroke. At the IHF, we are here to help more people live longer and one of the key ways we do this is by providing essential information to patients and their families from the point of diagnosis right through to after care and changes to lifestyle," explained IHF chief executive, Barry Dempsey.

Meanwhile according to consultant cardiologist, Dr Angie Brown, there are still many misconceptions about heart disease, for example, that it only affects older people and is a ‘male' disease.

"The truth is that cardiovascular disease affects men and women equally, and babies and children have been affected by strokes and heart conditions. With the right information, there is a lot you can do to prevent or manage this disease by not smoking, being more active, improving your diet, having regular blood pressure and cholesterol checks and taking your medication," she explained.

Mr Dempsey acknowledged that being diagnosed with a heart problem can be ‘an extremely frightening experience and one which immediately raises questions'.

"At the IHF we do our best to answer these and many more questions through one-to-one advice with a nurse on our National Heart & Stroke Helpline, dedicated information days and through our website and booklets. But none of this is possible without donations," Mr Dempsey said.

Last year alone, over 750,000 patients, their families and members of the public used the IHF's information services and this figure is expected to rise in 2013.

The foundation needs to raise at least €500,000 this May to maintain existing support and information services for patients. However it is hoping to exceed this figure so that it can expand the National Heart & Stroke Helpline.

The Happy Hearts Appeal is the charity's biggest fundraiser. Over 3,000 volunteers will be selling happy heart badges for €2 nationwide today, tomorrow and Saturday. Meanwhile people can also donate €2 by texting HEART to 50300. Online donations can also be made at irishheart.ie

For more information on heart health, see our Heart Disease Clinic here