To mark this year’s World Heart Day on September 29, HMCA is sharing personal stories from two of our team members.
As well as being colleagues, claims manager Elaine Dewhurst and IT manager Tom Bell, also share something else in common – living with a heart condition.
In February 2024, Elaine, 56, suffered a heart attack on a Monday night after work, a month after a routine check-up with her GP for high blood pressure.
After having a stent fitted, she now lives with Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction – meaning the left-side of her heart doesn’t pump as effectively – resulting in a shortened life expectancy.
Tom discovered he had Moderate Mitral Regurgitation when he was 16 after a visit to the GP for something else.
His condition means the valve between the left heart chambers doesn’t close fully meaning blood leaks back into the heart.
As part of World Heart Day, which aims to raise awareness worldwide of cardiovascular disease – the world’s number one killer[1] – we are sharing their stories.
Elaine’s Story – ‘I want to be seen as normal, because I am’
Claims manager Elaine has been at HMCA for over 10 years, but one Monday evening after work in 2024 was very different to all the others.
After losing her appetite and feeling sick, Elaine said she struggled to get to sleep and had a hard pain in her chest.
“I tried to go to sleep and as I lay there, I remember thinking ‘this isn’t right’ and the pain just got worse,” she said.
“It was a classic pain in my chest and the top of my arms. I got a bit scared because I live on my own. So, I called 999 and the ambulance arrived in 10 minutes.”
After being rushed to the LGI Hospital in Leeds following the heart attack, Elaine was fitted with a stent – which was inserted via her wrist, so she was able to watch it on a monitor.
“You could see the blood flowing back into the arteries and then he put the stent in and all the little trees filled up with blood. It was like ‘wow’. The pain disappeared straight away,” she added.
The heart attack has left her with Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction, with doctors saying she has a maximum of 20 years left to live as well as increased risk of Sudden Death Syndrome – often linked to heart rhythm abnormalities or structural heart problems.
Elaine says the issue began a month before the attack itself, when she visited her GP for a routine checkup.
At the appointment the doctor found she had high blood pressure and at a follow up appointment a week later her blood pressure was back to normal, but she still had pain in the side of her ribs.
She was sent home but now knows this pain was a precursor to the heart attack and has since found that women often have pain which indicates a heart attack in places other than the front of the chest, such as their side or neck.
As she had a ‘no-reason’ heart attack, not linked to high cholesterol or other lifestyle factors, Elaine said she became withdrawn and angry during the initial stage of her recovery.
She said: “After it happened, I’m left thinking ‘why did I have this heart attack for no reason’? I was very, very withdrawn for the first couple of weeks. I remember being sat in my house thinking, ‘is this it’, am I going to die?
“It really upset me; you start to realise the world is going on around you regardless of how you feel. I would say I was depressed and maybe a little bit angry and the ‘why me’? came into it.
“But no one is going to answer that question so there’s no use pondering it. So, you might as well just get on with it.”
Elaine added that the news of her daughter’s marriage last year and subsequent birth of her first granddaughter Hazel this September gave her something to fight for.
“It’s bought me such joy seeing her [Hazel]. It’s really filled me up with life that there’s something more and there’s a little life that will go on regardless,” she said.
“It is so nice. For me it’s made me appreciate things a little bit more. I treat things with a bit more respect. You don’t just take everything for granted or worry about things you don’t know about.
“You start to appreciate your family and friends more. I’m a two and half year survivor of a heart attack and I’m doing really well. I feel so lucky to survive and to have the opportunity to have the things I’ve had in the last two years.”
For World Heart Day Elaine has also shared what she has learned about heart health from her experience.
She said the biggest surprise was the pre-symptoms; that pains in her chest a month before the attack were the start of the attack itself and urged others not to ignore chest, side or neck pains and seek help as soon as possible.
Despite being tired a lot and having to restrict her exercise, Elaine said she is still the same person mentally.
“I want to be seen as normal, because I am,” she said.
“I don’t think it should stop me having things in my life, it shouldn’t stop me having a career. It shouldn’t stop anything.
“The fact is they gave me my life back and I will not waste it worrying about it. I think it’s quite natural to go through a grieving process because you have lost a little bit of you. I can’t be the same person physically but I’m still the same person mentally.”
Tom’s Story
Whilst not having a heart attack or surgery, IT manager Tom has had to constantly manage his heart condition since he was 16.
The condition, Moderate Mitral Regurgitation, means the valve between his left heart chambers doesn’t close fully meaning blood leaks back into the heart.
It means he gets chest pains, especially when drinking alcohol or exercising rigorously, and has had three trips to A&E in the back of an ambulance.
He now has to go for a check up every year to make sure the condition isn’t worsening – which could lead to him having a valve inserted.
Tom, now 25, said: “It never crossed my mind beforehand that I actually had an issue with my heart. I used to work stacking shelves in Waitrose, which was working late nights, drinking energy drinks and being physical all night moving boxes.
“There were few instances after a shift where I would have pretty bad pain, and I had to call 111 and go down to the doctors.
“If anything happens where I do get a severe pain in my chest, I immediately call an ambulance to do blood tests and make sure the issue isn’t more serious. Which can be a bit of a hinderance especially as you’re sat in A&E for 12 hours!”
Tom was first diagnosed while still at Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley, while attending a GP appointment for an unrelated issue in 2018.
They found a heart murmur which led to tests to identify the Moderate Mitral Regurgitation, which was then established as a genetic condition.
When he was first diagnosed Tom said it made his family very stressed and people treated him differently – not for his sisters though, who waved and laughed at him when he was taken away in an ambulance for the first time.
“I didn’t really like it at the time. The school suddenly became way too nice to me,” he said.
“My mum went from yelling at me to do housework to yelling at my sisters to do all the housework while poor Tom sits on the sofa.
“At first people do treat you differently because a heart condition does sound really bad. With time people have got used to it and no one treats me nicely anymore!”
Having lived with the condition for nearly nine years, Tom says he doesn’t often think about the impact it has on him.
He added: “Because of the age I got it the biggest thing that plays on my mind is the genetic thing. There’s a history of heart conditions in my family so if I have a kid am I going to give the kid a wonky heart. It’s not really something I want to do.
“Especially because I got lucky in that it’s moderate but if I pass it on it could be significantly worse.
“I kind of know what’s going to cause problems and when everything is fine. I kind of have a good idea on if I need to call an ambulance. With time you do learn what feels right and what feels wrong.”
Tom added that if there had been regular screening when he was younger the condition could have caught sooner and he could have looked after himself a bit better.
Offering advice to other young people who may have been diagnosed with a heart condition he said it was important not to panic.
He said: “I wouldn’t look too much into it online; you will over-stress yourself and panic yourself. Trust in the system and the care you will receive.
“It’s not as world-ending as it feels at the time. I’m not the best role model when it comes to my heart as I tried to un-panic myself.” For more information about World Heart Day, visit the website here: world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/
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