One day whilst in hospital I started to feel very drowsy and this was
the start of my first proper Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome episode. My
pulse went very high, my sats dropped and I started to lose
consciousness and the doctors were called and stopped the episode. I was
later on diagnosed with Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome
(WPW). Luckily I did not have the condition too badly,
although it still affected me regularly and interfered with my everyday
life. I found stairs difficult and regularly had to leave class
due to experiencing an episode. I then had
ablation surgery in
August 2007 for WPW.
After the surgery I did not experience any symptoms (palpitations,
shaking, breathlessness, chest pain or dizziness) for a couple of
months. I experienced chest pain again whilst on holiday with my school
in November 2007. After this, I had a recurrence of old symptoms
and I was later diagnosed with an atrial flutter. This only affected me
in a minor way and I had a second ablation in February 2008. After this
second operation I was finally cured, and apart from a few minor
symptoms every now and again I am back to full fitness and I am now a
student midwife at Kings College London University and run and dance
happily every week :)
I want to send my support to all the other young people that have been
diagnosed with a heart problem. I know how it feels to have frequent
symptoms and how frightening it can be. I also know how alone you can
feel and how tired you can get with the constant reminder of what
condition you have, the constant tests and symptoms and the want to be
normal and healthy. I also now know what it is like to be cured and that
however bad your experience was, with the support of loved ones and the
ability to remain strong in low times, you can still go on to achieve
great things.
I thought that I would be too ill to start my
Midwifery course last September, but now I am doing 12 and a half hour
shifts and still partying in between :)
I just want to send support out to you and your
families and remind you that despite what condition you have, you can
still achieve great things.
