The Heart Research Institute (HRI) is proud to have Ms Karlie Burgess as a donor, she suffered her first heart attack at only 27. The blood vessels of Karlie’s heart are now supported by three stents – small metal scaffolds that open up clogged arteries to restore normal blood flow. For the upcoming World Heart Day on September 29th, she spoke to us about her trials with heart disease.
At the age of 27, I had my first heart attack. I was at home, waking up and preparing for a Friday at work when I had really bad tightness right in the middle of my chest. My arms felt a bit dead and numb, and I was feeling really nauseous. I thought that I might be having an asthma attack, so I took myself to hospital. At the hospital doctors kept asking me to describe what was wrong and I remember that I kept repeating - ‘I have a bit of tightness in the chest and I just don’t feel right’.
After numerous tests a doctor came in and said to me: ‘It’s confirmed, you’re having a heart attack.’ I was floored. I said, ‘I think you’ve made a mistake,I’m only 27 and I don’t know what’s going on here!’ It was particularly perplexing - I don’t have any family history of heart disease, I don’t have any risk factors, I’ve never smoked cigarettes in my life, I don’t take drugs and my cholesterol wasn’t high. I was a fairly fit person…before the heart attack.
The symptoms got worse and soon I was rushed hospital by ambulance. I had an urgent angiogram and that’s when they found that I had a blockage in a main artery supplying blood to my heart. I was wheeled off to surgery for a procedure called angioplasty. It’s a process where doctors use a tiny balloon to open up the artery and then insert a metal stent to keep the artery open. I had 2 stents put in at that time. Afterwards, I spent a couple of days being monitored in the coronary care unit and the rest of the week in the cardiac ward.
After a little rehab I went back to work 3 days a week. A couple of months later, I had some tightness in my chest again and this time I went straight to hospital. There seemed to be another small blockage in the same artery - the one that already had the two stents. So I went into surgery once again to have a third stent put in.
Since then, I’ve been on quite strong blood-thinning medication and another type of medicine to assist with blood pressure and chest pain. In addition to sickness and nausea from the medication, I’ve also had some crazy side-effects such as, a bad petechial rash which I just recovered from. For those who don’t know what that is, it looks like many little spots of blood underneath your skin and It’s not very attractive.
The recovery has been…difficult. I’ve struggled in the last 2 years. I’ve been in and out of hospital during that time with chest pain and similar issues. Physically, you just kind of start again - you get your fitness back and you finally start to feel normal again. However mentally, the anxiety and worrying, are more difficult to cope with. You’ll be in the middle of something when suddenly you’ll stop to think—‘did my heart just go fast and what was that pain?’
Just over a month ago, my fears were realised when I had another heart attack. I was standing in my gym class about to start (I hadn’t even done one ounce of exercise yet!) , when I got the most horrific pain in my chest and both of my wrists hurt really badly. I knew it was serious and I was rushed to hospital.
The doctors think that the most recent heart attack was caused by a blood clot. They tell me that sometimes a blood clot gets wedged in the stent or sometimes the blood vessel tries to heal over the stent. The treatment was very strong drugs while I was there, which breaks up the blood clot. When they did the angiogram the next morning there was no blockage and thankfully, there wasn’t too much damage from this latest attack.
When people ask me why I donate to the Heart Research Institute I tell them that supporting heart research is something that now I strongly believe in. People need to have a think about how they can actually help. I mean, I’ve got three things inside me that scientists made… they’re keeping me alive! Heart research saves lives, I’m living proof.
Written by Karlie Burgess.
Blackmores is a proud supporter of the Heart Research Institute- a not-for-profit medical research institute where scientists are working on better ways to detect, treat and ultimately prevent cardiovascular disease. To learn more or donate visit www.hri.org.au .
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