Patient Stories
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Stacey’s Heart Valve Disease Story
In 2019, at just 33 years old, Stacey Langridge was experiencing severe shortness of breath and swollen ankles. When referred to Weston General Hospital, it was found that she had aortic stenosis, mitral valve disease and endocarditis and needed emergency treatment. Over the next four weeks in hospital she had her valves repaired and replaced and antibiotics to treat her endocarditis. Now, she is making a good recovery, adjusting to life after treatment, and looking forward to the future with her family. This is her story. “My story started in 2019 when I was sent to a heart doctor after [...]
Jeanine Jones: My Endocarditis Story
In December 2018, 33 year old Support Worker at Autism Together, Jeanine Jones was celebrating the birth of her first daughter, Phoebe. Flash forward four months and she was being raced across Liverpool to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital with her heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and brain starting to fail. There, she received her life saving double valve replacement. This is her extraordinary story. “I suppose the story starts in December when Phoebe was born. I had a difficult birth, she was born back to front, and in the days after I started to get really bad back pain. At [...]
Ian Brown: My Endocarditis Story
Ian Brown, a 52-year-old football fanatic and avid fisherman, has been married to his beloved wife Kay for 28 years. Together with daughters Emma and Sophie, they faced his heart valve disease challenge by finding strength in unity and family. Their story begins in the year 2000. “I was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis in February 2000 after feeling unwell for several weeks. I was only 32 at the time but had been suffering from a high temperature, shortness of breath, general aches and severe bouts of sweating. Sometimes that sweating was so bad my wife had to change the bedsheets [...]
Lisa Condley: My Endocarditis Story
During March of 2017 Lisa was receiving physiotherapy for her Achilles Tendinitis and started experiencing symptoms of joint pains in her elbow and knees. The physiotherapist suggested that she go to her GP for a check up. Blood works were done and an inflammation was noted however nothing was done about it. The symptoms of joint pain were having an impact on Lisa’s job as a cleaner and a small task of walking to the bus stop was becoming more difficult. Due to the persistences of the symptoms, more tests were conducted in May. She was referred to a rheumatologist [...]
Victor Hyman Heart Valve Disease Story
Victor Hyman was completely unaware of his heart valve disease. Whilst on holiday in Turkey in 1994, he was visited by a local doctor for an upset stomach. While his stomach was fine, he was surprised to find out in fact he had a problem with his heart as the doctor had detected a murmur after listening to his heart with a stethoscope. Victor was later treated for mitral regurgitation, but while the disease never caused him any inconvenience, it was a later bout of endocarditis that made Victor realise things were more serious than they seemed. Victor had been working [...]
David Eaton’s Heart Valve Disease Story
When David Eaton’s life and career were suddenly placed in jeopardy by a mystery illness and painful headaches, he never thought that his heart might be the cause. Unknown to him, his aortic valve had been under stealthy attack from bacteria, caused by a condition called endocarditis. An injury sustained thirty years ago to his lower jaw was most probably to blame and as a result of the infection David underwent an aortic valve replacement. Since working for the iconic Vogue magazine as a young man, David Eaton (63) has made a career out of the design and production of [...]
