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Most of us imagine heart failure to be something older people struggle with - but one woman has spoken out about how she experienced heart failure at just 22 years old.
Becky Giblin, 29, a public speaker who also works for a disabilities organisation, didn’t realise how serious her condition was at first.
Becky, who lives in New Zealand, was an active 22-year-old who was always on the go.
When she started struggling for breath, she thought it must be her asthma playing up again.
“Asthma was something I struggled with in my teen years,” Becky remembers.
“I was an active 22-year-old who was always boating, swimming, coaching swimming and doing everything I could to be in on or around the ocean.
“But a few weeks after getting a nasty cold, I was still having a lot of trouble breathing.
“Doctors initially thought it was asthma.”
However, Becky soon realised this struggle for breath felt different than it had previously.
Within 24 hours, she lost the ability to walk up the stairs of her home without gasping for air.
She went back home to see the GP she had been seeing most of her life, who sent her to hospital for tests.
“The doctor immediately realised something much more serious was happening,” she adds.
“I was admitted to hospital and bounced around to a few different wards for about two days, including the High Dependency Unit.
“Then I was moved to the cardiac care unit and the cardiology team took over.
“They sat down with my mother and I and discussed that I was in heart failure and the severity and reality of possibly needing a heart transplant.”
Becky was incredibly shocked to hear the news, and struggled to process it at first.
“Initially I was incredibly numb,” she explains. “No one ever expects to be told they need a heart transplant, but the speed at which it all happened was what sent me spiralling the most.
“It was confusing and overwhelming but I was incredibly pragmatic about it all and was just very focused on the next steps.
“When I look back on all of it now it was rather insane.
"I kept a diary through the whole period and it was the first time I ever actually finished an entire journal before losing it.
“I occasionally go back to those pages to remind myself of it all, because so much happened so quickly it was incredibly easy to forget the moments that things were happening.
“I asked for my parents to bring me the notebook on probably day two in the hospital. It was a constant companion.”
Becky discovered that her heart was functioning at just 13%, and she should have needed a heart transplant.
However, thanks to medical research, she was able to take medication that improved her condition.
“I was told I would likely need a transplant but responded very well to medication and managed to avoid it,” Becky, who shares her journey on Instagram at @bexnananu, explains.
“I have gone from my heart functioning at 13% to 40% simply through medication, lifestyle adjustments and allowing myself time to heal.
“All of my medications had to be very slowly introduced as I have quite low blood pressure.
“It took a lot of time and monitoring to be able to build up my ability to take higher doses of medications.”
Thanks to the medication, Becky can do everything she enjoys, including Zumba and F45 multiple times a week - but she says behind the scenes, the reality of living with her condition can be extremely challenging.
“Every day looks different - I live a relatively active and normal lifestyle but the realities of behind the scenes are really difficult,” she reveals.
“I have lost friends and partners to the fact that I can't be the person I was before my condition and because every day is a challenge.
“I wish people understood the way their reactions to my symptoms, chronic fatigue, pain and other symptoms can impact my mental health more than they realise.
“I also wish there was less fear around the condition.
“Heart failure sounds scary and it is, but as I have gone through working to get my life back, there has been a lot of putting me into a box about what I can and can’t do.
"Changing that mindset and finding ways to support people whose chronic illness is invisible is really important.
“One of my biggest challenges since being diagnosed is coming to terms with letting go of parts of me that I used to love and finding out who from my circle of friends, family and community were really there for me.
“I now live my life with those very clear divides, pre and post-heart failure Bex, and that has been quite strange to come to terms with.
“My friends who stuck with me through it and I still see now are like family and then there is this whole new community I've built for myself who have only ever known the chronically ill version of me.
“Blending the two versions of me will forever be an internal battle.
“The strain of living with chronic pain, fatigue, medication dependence, constant side effects and symptoms all becomes very exhausting for other people to watch me go through and juggle being around me.
“So while I am incredibly grateful for my community and the places I've been able to go and tell my story there are still so many stigmas behind invisible illnesses and so much lack of understanding around people who struggle with things like heart failure.
“I have been attacked personally and professionally for being open about my condition and called out for just complaining, while in severe enough pain to land me in hospital later in the day.
“There is a lot to learn about compassion and a lot of work to be done on awareness on living with conditions like heart failure.”
In the UK, coronary heart disease kills twice as many women as breast cancer. Just Strong and Heart Research UK are aiming to raise awareness of heart conditions in women through the sale of limited-edition t-shirts to save more women's lives.
Featuring: Becky Giblin
Where: New Zealand
When: 31 Jul 2024
Credit: Becky Giblin/Cover Images
**EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH STATED PHOTOGRAPHER AND/OR SUPPLIER.**
2024-07-31
Cover Images/East News
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