Sunrise host Natalie Barr’s tearful plea as she breaks down on-air

An emotional Natalie Barr tearfully struggled through a live segment this morning, as she discussed an extremely personal topic.

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has broken down on air talking about her father, who died of heart disease at the age of 61.

The 53-year-old presenter appeared on The Morning Show to raise awareness about heart failure on Give with Heart Day, but struggled to speak through tears after photos of her father, Jim, flashed onscreen. He died of ventricular heart failure 20 years ago.

Co-host Larry Emdur began asking Barr a question to lead the segment, but it quickly became too much for the veteran TV journalist.

“I thought I could do this, I’m sorry,” Barr said. “So many Australians …” she began, before breaking down again: “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

Natalie Barr breaks down on Sunrise talking about her father, who died of heart disease 20 years ago.

Barr bravely composed herself to deliver a heartfelt plea.

“So many Australians have this. It’s Australia’s biggest killer. 50 people are dying a day of heart disease; I don’t think we are giving it the attention it deserves,” Barr said.

“Our family went through this 20 years ago, and like many, many Australians families, it destroys your family and you never forget it and you really never get over it, so that’s why I’m supporting this cause.

“It’s just the hardest thing you ever have to go through.”

Jim died in 2001, when Barr was six months pregnant with her eldest son, Lachlan, now 17.

Barr has previously revealed her dad had complained about heartburn after playing golf with friends and died just hours later.

Natalie Barr with her father Jim on her wedding day.

Money raised on Give with Heart Day will go toward vital research at the Heart Foundation, with donations being doubled by major donors today.

“The Heart Foundation has spent years – 60 years – researching in many ways. Things like the pacemaker, congenital heart failure,” Barr added. “A variety of issues that affect young and old, babies all the way up to older people.

“We’re all going to benefit if the Heart Foundation can get their targets on this.”

The Morning Show also spoke with Dr Geoff Lister, who said he was studying to be a cardiologist when he had three high-risk open-heart surgeries and two strokes.

He also wasn’t aware he had the condition.

“Out of the blue, I was refereeing a game of basketball, I’d been a previously well 24-year-old without any problems whatsoever, normal childhood and then suddenly I had a bit of tingling in the arm, and just on a whim with the support of some friends decided to go to the hospital on the way home,” he said.

“Only because it was on the way home, it’s the only reason I went. If it wasn’t on the way home, I’d be dead.

“I walked into the emergency department and the pain was the most intense pain I’ve ever had, it’s so deep and essentially what the dissection is the tearing of the large artery that comes out of the heart and supplies blood to the body.

“So it doesn’t take a doctor to know that once that tears, you’ve got seconds to minutes to live without urgent medical intervention or surgical intervention.

“Thankfully I was near a major transplant centre in Brisbane where I was able to receive, literally 40 minutes later, my first open-heart surgery.”

Originally published as Sunrise host Natalie Barr’s tearful plea as she breaks down on-air