After that I
didn't see my mum ever again - she had passed away at the age of 30.
As I got older, I was more curious about what happened with my mum because
my family was saying my mum just died in her sleep and I was confused
because I thought "How can you just die in your sleep?"
So time passed. Then on August 7th 2000 I got a phone call saying my
brother Daniel died in the shower - he was 23. Apparently he had just
got out of bed and gone into the shower and collapsed and died. I didn't
know what to think - I was in shock...
At this
point I moved back to England with my dad, as we had been living in
Australia.
So after another horrific thing in my life had happened, it was scaring me
because all my close loved-ones were dying for no reason! So I decided
to go to the doctors and explain to them what had happened to my close
family. These two deaths had happened in Australia so my mother and
brother had not been registered at my doctors in the UK. The doctor was
concerned and he sorted me out an appointment to go and see Dr Bowes at
Northern General in Sheffield.
I had the ECGs done, the treadmills done and also the standing and sitting
down thing to check my heart, but still came up as OK. But I also go
dizzy a lot - like when you stand up really quick and you can go dizzy at
times - but I go dizzy while I am washing the pots or something! So Dr Bowes
decided to put me in for the Electrophysiological Testing where you are
sedated and have a needle in your groin and they thread a thin tube through
your vein up into your heart, and then they experiment with different drugs
to get your heartbeat going fast and slow....
As soon as I came out of theatre Dr Bowes came up to me and said, "Well we
see you do have Long QT Syndrome and you
will definitely need an I.C.D implanted ASAP." (Implanted Cardiac
Defibrillator)
I was crying my eyes out, thinking "My life is over now!" Also feeling
sorry for myself "Why me, why me...?". Simple things like going
on fast rides and playing sports is going to restrict me a little bit, and I
also have two children so they have a 50/50 chance of having this condition.
So 6 months later I had this I.C.D implanted and now I think if I didn't
have it I would be scared for my life. I feel very secure even though
nothing is 100% guaranteed - but it helps hugely.
Now my
children are undergoing treatment, but so far their tests have come back OK.
I also had a blood test to see if they can find this faulty gene, and if
they do it will be easy to diagnose my children and other family members for
this condition. But up to now I'm just enjoying life with my children
and hope for the best that my children won't have this condition.
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