Friday 14th December 2018
P.J. (Patrick) Brien, didn’t think he had anything wrong with his heart, after all, he had no red flag symptoms like tiredness, dizziness or chest pains. However with a family history of heart problems and some breathlessness that he put down to the dusty conditions at work, P.J.’s wife suspected something was wrong. Her caution was warranted and most likely saved his life as it was later determined that his aortic valve would need replacing.
Tuesday 27th November 2018
There is almost nothing that Penny Minney hasn’t done in her 84 years. The former Classics teacher is an avid traveller, author, has sailed the high seas, is an active philanthropist and a lover of swimming, hiking and climbing, not to mention she’s a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. However, she has not accomplished all of this without a few bumps in the road including two mitral valve replacements. But thanks to her treatments, Penny is back to living her full life as she always has - full of energy!
Tuesday 23rd October 2018
Bill Dean from Mold, North Wales, isn't your typical 77 year old. Bill spends most of his free time in the mountains of Snowdonia as a Mountain Rescue Volunteer, a job he’s been proud to do for the past 50 years. However, a number of years ago Bill worried he wouldn’t be able to continue with his volunteer work when he started to get breathless walking uphill, until an aortic heart valve replacement in 2015 made sure he was back on the mountains feeling better than ever.
Wednesday 8th August 2018
It was a chance query to his GP to see a rheumatologist that led to an eventual diagnosis of heart valve disease for 53 year old Mike Addelman of Manchester. An avid cyclist and runner, the diagnosis was certainly a surprise but Mike is grateful for a lucky visit to have his spine checked and the doctor’s keen sense that something wasn’t right.
Friday 3rd August 2018
Aged 53, Mike was training for Insanity, an intensive fitness programme, as he had been doing for the past few years. Ordinarily, he has a low resting heart rate which will usually settle in a predictable way following a work out. However, one session near Christmas 2014 it settled just under 70, which struck him as unusual. He’d always monitored his heart rate closely, and explained to his wife he felt he was running at 85%. He began to get breathless, and climbing the stairs required extra effort. Something was clearly not right.
Wednesday 25th July 2018
Mark Blatchly, Deputy Head Teacher and amateur athlete, lived a well-balanced, varied life with a healthy mix of career, family and marathon kayaking, until a shock discovery threatened to capsize everything. After decades of teaching others, he found himself learning the biggest lessons of his life: how to survive a terminal cancer prognosis, then heart valve disease.
Thursday 14th June 2018
On a recent trip to the US to support the American Heart Valve Voice, Heart Valve Voice UK CEO Wil Woan wanted to meet with a local patient to find out if their experiences differ from those of our UK patients. So he met with Natalie, 80, from Washington DC who found herself slowing down in 2017 while on a trip to Israel. She struggled to keep up and was frustrated that she was missing out on enjoying her time with her family. She later found out that her struggles weren’t a result of her age but that she had congenital heart valve disease and would require treatment.
Monday 11th June 2018
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 had been through a similar experience!