Belfast woman Leah Kitchen describes having a heart attack when she was just 36 years of age

​This time two years ago Leah Kitchen was waiting to have major open-heart surgery at the age of just 37.

Now, Leah is preparing to take on local health charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke’s (NICHS) Red Dress Fun Run – and as the event takes place during Heart Month (February) the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Leah said: “I was actually born with my heart condition, but it wasn't discovered until I was six years old. The school nurse was at my school and she found I had a heart murmur. She asked my mum how long I had had it for and my mum had no idea what she was talking about, so we went to see the doctor.“After tests we discovered I had a heart murmur because my mitral valve was torn. The mitral valve is a small flap in the heart that stops blood flowing the wrong way. The tear in mine meant there was a leak and it was causing a backflow of my blood and it wasn’t flowing around my body properly.”As a child Leah attended the paediatric cardiologist every three years and at 16 years old that changed to every year.

During the first COVID lockdown Leah’s team of medical specialists decided it was time for her to have surgery to fix the leaking valve. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as straightforward as Leah had hoped.

“I assumed it would be keyhole surgery but was told it would be major open-heart surgery. That frightened me because previously I had been told that if I needed surgery, it would be keyhole. That changes as you get older however and keyhole surgery is usually only performed on children.

“In November 2021 I got the word I was having my surgery in the springtime. I am a retail window-dresser and later that month at work I was kneeling in the shop front and suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I have an Apple watch which I used to keep an eye on my heart rate and it was going crazy. It was showing my heart rate was going up to 220 beats per minute which is really dangerous. I went home but later that night I didn't feel great, so I went to the Royal Victoria Hospital. I was admitted overnight and was told I had had a mild heart attack which was a shock.”“This all happened during the pandemic and because of the backlog of people waiting to have surgery, my operation wasn’t moved forward even after my heart attack. I didn’t have surgery until March 2022.

“With mitral valve surgery the valve is either replaced or repaired but the surgeon won’t know which the best option is until they open you up. A replacement involves a mechanical valve being put in, but my surgeon said they would prefer to do a repair on mine because you get more time out of a repair.

“I was in surgery for five and a half hours and the surgeon was able to carry out a repair. I was in ICU for four days before moving to the heart and lung ward. I was only in my thirties, so I was the youngest one there by far. I was surrounded by people in their sixties and seventies.”

A few days later when Leah was getting ready to go home she was sitting in the discharge lounge and started to feel very unwell.

"I was taken back up to the ward and the medical team discovered I had atrial fibrillation which causes an irregular heart rate. I was hooked back up to heart monitors which showed my heart was actually doing six second pauses. It was basically stopping for six seconds and then starting up again, and I felt every single bit of that which was awful. I was scared out of my wits. I had to be sedated and electric paddles were used to shock my heart into a rhythm again. Even after the paddles my heart didn’t fix its rhythm and I was still feeling the stops. The doctors had to try all sorts of combinations of medications to try and regulate it again and it was days before they got it under control.”

Leah spent a further two weeks in hospital before returning home and starting her recovery journey.

“My cardiologist said I should be feeling back to normal around 12 weeks after the surgery, so I set myself the goal that at that point I would do a hike and I did. I hiked Black Mountain 12 weeks to the day after my surgery which was brilliant.”

“I now have a scar on my chest that I am not ashamed to show off and lots of people comment on that. I’m proud of it; I either have the scar or I wouldn't be alive. With some luck I'll not need another surgery for 25 to 30 years.”

Leah is sharing her story to highlight that heart illness isn’t something that mainly affects older people, a frequent misconception. “

“I want to raise awareness that there are lots of younger people living with a heart condition, and many who are undiagnosed. I am lucky my condition was picked up and I was monitored closely over the years and now I am doing really well after my surgery. Sadly, some people aren’t that lucky.”

Christine Duncan, Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke, is urging the public to sign up to the Red Dress Fun Run.

“Please come run, walk, dance, skip or wheel 5K with us on Sunday, February 25, at Stormont Estate, or if you can’t make the live event, you can support us by doing 5k your way any day, or over days, in February.”

You can sign up to the Red Dress Fun Run at www.nichs.org.uk/RedDressFunRun