During Heart Valve Disease Awareness Week, a Foothills County grandmother says dizziness, shortness of breath or headaches should not be taken lightly.
At 18, Lise Thacker found out she had a heart murmur. Finally, at a doctor's urging and after dealing with symptoms for more than three decades, she learned that the murmur was caused by a faulty heart valve, and that it was treatable.
Now, after successful surgery to correct the problem, Thacker urges people to look after their health. Sept. 16 to 22 is Heart Valve Disease Awareness Week.
“Don’t put your health on the backburner,” she said.
Although she played sports while she was growing up, she said she didn’t have the stamina for extreme physical activity and was often out of breath.
With hay fever and asthma, her lightheadedness and shortness of breath were never attributed to a heart problem.
“It was never really taken as, ‘This is your heart that’s causing this,’” she said.
Finally, when she was near 50, her family doctor suggested they get to the bottom of what was causing the murmur.
After running the gamut of cardiac testing, it was determined that a heart valve was not functioning properly.
“I was told when I was 50 or 52 by my cardiologist that my problem can be fixed,” she said.
She thought her conditions was still manageable, and it wasn’t until 2019, when she was 57, that she decided to go ahead with surgery.
She needed a single bypass and an aortic valve replacement, opting for a mechanical valve because it lasts longer and doesn’t require anti-rejection medication.
In the five years since, her heart health is good, the murmur is gone and she can chase her grandkids without being short of breath.
“I get exercise, and I just try to maintain a good heart-healthy diet,” she said.
Thacker has shared her story with the Libin Cardiac Institute, a joint organization of the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services, and with Heart Valve Voice Canada.
She said an assessment can begin with a simple stethoscope check at the doctor’s office to see if there’s a heart murmur.
“Mine was so obvious,” she said. “You could hear the whoosh and the thump, thump, and a pause, and then the whoosh again."
Before surgery, she couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs or vacuum without needing to stop and catch her breath, and she had headaches every day.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's website says having the disease means one or more of the heart’s four valves aren’t working properly. Symptoms can include chest pain, an irregular heartbeat, swelling, dizziness, shortness of breath or fatigue, and people may not experience symptoms right away.
Heart Valve Voice Canada says heart valve disease affects more than a million people in Canada but awareness remains low.
