I was born on the 17th January
1985.
At 24 hours old the
doctors came into see my mum to do a
check over to allow me to go home and
my mum asked ‘why is my baby going
blue’. The doctors looked into it and
discovered that I had Pulmonary Artesia –
where the pulmonary valve was sealed at
birth. So they rushed me from the Royal
Women’s Hospital over to the Prince
Charles Hospital for me to be operated on
straight away. Dr Peter Pohlner performed
the surgery (with me being one of the
first bub to survive the operation).
Operation Number 1 – 18th January
1985.
After this operation
things went well until I was about
10years old. At this stage they
discovered that my valve didn’t grow
completely with me and it collapsed. After
another 3 years of waiting for me to
stop growing, or have rapid deterioration
I was in line for my second surgery. By
this stage my heart was double the size
it should have been and I couldn’t run
more than 20m without symptoms of server
astma. On the 15th September
1998 I had operation 2; this operation
was to replace the collapsed valve with a
human tissue valve. This meant that I
wouldn’t be on any drugs after the
surgery as there was minimal risk of
rejection.
3 years later I had
to have the same surgery. The reason for
the repeat was as my heart went back to
a normal size and this was smaller than
the allowed valve that they repaced. So
on the 6th December 2002 I had
my latest surgery.
Since this date I
have not had any more complications. I
was given the all clear when I got
married 2 years ago that I could have a
family. We are now 35weeks pregnant and
everything is going well for myself and
bub. Our Baby had no signs of a heart
condition, which was a great relief.
Now you know a bit
about me. I am helping HeartKids Qld by
organising a fundraiser. I personally know
how valuable this charity is to the
HeartKids and their families.
My mum was a part
of the Heart to Heart support group when
I was born and received newsletter (once
they were started from the beginning).
When I had my surgery in 1998 I became
aware of the charity and the work that
they did for families. At that time they
helped renovate rooms for parents (in the
old nurse’s quarters) of children staying
in the Prince Charles hospital. They were
able to stay there for the period of
time that their child was in hospital.
My parents got to take advantage of this
accommodation instead of having to travel
from Ipswich every day to be with me.
As I grew up further
from this surgery I was invited to join
other HeartKids on a camp in Victoria
each year. My parents couldn’t afford to
send me and I finally was able to go
the February that I turned 20 (2005). I
loved this camp as I was able to meet
other heart kids and heart young adults
that is still talk to off and on still.
It was so nice to spend a weekend with
other people who have an understanding of
what I had experience and be able to
share stries and experiences.
I believe that
HeartKids Qld is doing a great thing for
families and kids who have heart
conditions. So I am helping them in a
way that I can by doing a fundraiser.
Tupperware is a great product that has a
life time guarantee. I have been in
Tupperware for 2 years now and have been
a manager for 1.5 years. I love my job
and the fact that I am going to be able
to be a stay at home mum and raise my
children.
