Patient Stories
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Dave Swanton’s Mitral Valve Disease Story
Dave Swanton was first diagnosed with heart valve disease in 2018. Fast-forward to 2020, and Dave's condition had deteriorated. Due to the pressures of Covid, he was told he would need to wait for surgery, but was advised to seek medical help immediately if his symptoms change - which is exactly what he did. Thanks to the work by the [...]
Nigel Masterton’s Aortic Valve Replacement Story
73-year-old Nigel Masterton, from Edinburgh was diagnosed with a 'sticky valve' while on a trial assessing the impact of drugs on patients with aortic stenosis. After opting to have minimal invasive surgery, a complication during surgery left him in ITU. Despite this, and thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the ITU staff, Nigel was back home with his wife and [...]
Alison Banayoti’s Heart Valve Disease Story
Days before being admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Alison Banayoti was walking her dogs as she does everyday and thinking about her impending surgery. Fourteen years after being diagnosed with aortic and bicuspid heart valve disease, she was finally getting the treatment that she had been waiting to receive. In 2005, at the age of 45, Alison was [...]
UK Mini Mitral Trial: Mary’s Heart Valve Disease Story
Over the next few weeks, in support of the South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust UK Mini Mitral Trial, a multi-centre randomised control trial on Minimally invasive thoracoscopically-guided right minithoracotomy versus conventional sternotomy for mitral valve repair, we will be sharing a number of patients stories from patients who have been involved in the trial. The second story comes from Mary, [...]
UK Mini Mitral Trial: Ady’s Heart Valve Disease Story
Over the next few weeks, in support of the South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust UK Mini Mitral Trial, a multi-centre randomised control trial on Minimally invasive thoracoscopically-guided right minithoracotomy versus conventional sternotomy for mitral valve repair, we will be sharing a number of patients stories from patients who have been involved in the trial. The first story is from [...]
Katharine Greenland: My Mitral Repair Story
Katharine Greenland, 71, has always been relatively fit and active so when she was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation it wasn’t what she was expecting. However after her treatment her life has quickly gone back to normal, except for the fact that six months later her twin sister would also be treated for mitral valve disease! Katharine Greenland lives a [...]
Christine Greenland: My Mitral Repair Story
Christine Greenland, aged 71, had never been in hospital before and didn’t know that anything was wrong with her heart. Six years ago, after a heart murmur was picked up during a visit to a gastroenterologist, she was eventually referred to a cardiologist where she was diagnosed with a mitral valve prolapse. Only four months prior, Christine’s twin sister Katharine [...]
Geoffrey Pritchard: My Mitral Repair Story
In 2013, Geoffrey Pritchard of North London was admitted to Watford General Hospital after experiencing an episode of atrial fibrillation and was diagnosed with pericarditis. Geoffrey received a pericardiectomy, and through the associated testing they found another issue lurking, mitral regurgitation. Geoffrey Pritchard, a former Engineer in the Royal Airforce who subsequently worked as a consultant in the Cabinet Office, [...]
Kevin Hey: My Post Surgery Story
In the final entry of the trio, we hear how Kevin managed during his recovery and post-treatment pathway. After 18 years of living with mitral valve disease, how was life with a valve replacement? My operation lasted for about seven hours and I was now lying peacefully in the cardiac intensive care unit. I had no pain, all my body [...]
Kevin Hey: My Treatment Options Story
After living with mitral valve disease for 18 years, Kevin was treated at the Lancashire Cardiac Centre. This is the second of three posts about Kevin’s experience. In this entry, he writes in detail about his experience of the preparation process before surgery. I had to undergo a couple of final tests, and the week before the operation I attended [...]