Stories

Today we launch European Heart Valve Disease Awareness Week and our message is clear, if we increase awareness of symptoms and detect the disease early, the quality of life and treatment outcomes are very good. However sadly many people across the UK don’t get the treatment in time.

It was during a company health check in 2000 that Alan discovered he had a heart murmur. After being told it wasn’t serious it was left alone until 2010 when Alan started to receive an annual ECG (Echocardiogram) to check on the progress of the disease. Due to his leaky valves, this resulted in Alan’s heart becoming enlarged which could only be resolved through surgery. In 2016 Alan underwent open heart surgery and received a mechanical valve for both his mitral and aortic valve.

Three years ago there was a black cloud over Christmas when Bridie Lilleker (33) was told that ‘under no circumstances’ could she try for a baby due to the extreme pressure it would put on her heart. Just eight weeks previously, she’d been diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation, and the day before Christmas Eve she saw her surgeon. Her keyhole operation went ahead in January 2016 and this past Christmas (2018) was the best ever because they were able to celebrate it with baby Darcie!

Nicola Doherty, a working mother of a young son, was unaware of any issues with her heart. After a visit to the doctor’s office for what she thought was a simple chest infection, a stethoscope exam revealed that she had a heart murmur. At the age of 45, she was eventually diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and received an aortic valve replacement.

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.

Norma Brickle was diagnosed in 2001 with a massive aortic aneurysm which had also distorted her aortic valve. A replacement valve was inserted as part of the aneurysm repair, which was done by open heart surgery. Norma was told she would likely need a replacement valve in the future, with the hope that a procedure would be available that could access the valve through an artery rather than through further open heart surgery.

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.

Days before being admitted to St Thomas’s Hospital, 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.