/ I’m only 31, I got diagnosed with a heart condition at 24, it’s not that common for a young adult to require heart surgery, so I’m sure some of you may be thinking….’why do you need heart surgery?’
Let’s start from the beginning….
When my mum was pregnant with my me and my identical twin Louise the doctors informed her that she had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (see the link at the end of the blog for more information). With treatment there is only a 50-65% chance that both twins will survive. However in 1993 this treatment wasn’t provided to my mother, without treatment the odds weren’t looking too good. My mum had an emergency c-section at 7 months, miraculously both Louise and I were alive, however it took a number of months before we were both healthy.
Fast forward 24 years, I’m on my way to work and when I arrive at work I notice my pulse in my neck feels really fast. I called my GP and they asked me to come in and see them. When I arrived they sent me for an ECG and said my pulse was 140bpm (this was 1 hour from when it first started and my pulse had slightly reduced). I then went for several tests and spoke with a cardiologist, nothing was found, I was informed as a young woman it was probably just stress (how wrong they were).
One year later I’m at a salsa class with my friend and then I noticed it started to happen again, it had been one year of nothing, but suddenly here I was again. I called 999 and 30 minutes later two young paramedics turned up, they were laughing about something that had happened earlier that day. When they eventually got me “plugged in” I saw the look on their faces, my heart beat was 240bpm. Suddenly the siren sounded and I was rushed into hospital. I had my legs flipped over my head to shock my heart which seemed to do the job as my heart then reduced to 140bpm. I then proceeded to wait and have several checks. Eventually I was diagnosed with SVT (super ventricular tachycardia), a condition where for no obvious reason your heart can suddenly go very fast without any triggers.
I proceeded to live with this condition, I had many further tests and spoke with cardiologists and continued to live my life the best I could. I got into fitness, I met my husband and got married…things were looking up.
When I turned 30 I went for a routine check up (in Dec 2023) and that’s when they discovered things weren’t quite what they or I thought. Even after what felt like 20 scans they hadn’t discovered that I have a birth defect which is quite common in premature babies called coarcation of the aorta. It is a narrowing in my aorta and that can only be fixed by a stent.
So that’s where I’m at now, waiting for my heart operation where they will put a stent in my aorta, until then I need to be careful how much I exercise, I’m under strict instructions not to get pregnant and Andy and I are trying to get on with life the best we can.
That was quite a long story, if you’re still with me, thank you!
If you’d like to know more about the conditions I’ve mentioned please check out these thinks:
Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome:
SVT:
Coarctation of the aorta:
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/conditions/coarctation-of-the-aorta#what
Life with Helen Johnson 
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