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Perhaps you would like to share your experience with heart disease. We would love to hear your stories.
Email us at share@meetwallysheart.co.za
Case Study 1
Case Study 2
Case Study 3
Case Study 4
Case Study 5
When 57 year old Ian Scher felt the first pains in his chest 10 years ago he put it down to indigestion and didn't bother to mention it to anyone. He knew he was a bit overweight but he'd just given up smoking - up to 90 cigarettes a day. What he did not know is that cardiovascular disease kills 2.5 times as many people every year as all cancers combined.
Two weeks after stopping smoking, he suffered his first heart attack. Fortunately for him it was a mild attack, which necessitated two coronary artery stents* being used to clear blocked arteries. "In some ways it wasn't really a huge shock, as I knew I hadn't been living a healthy lifestyle. From being very active in my youth, I now found I wasn't doing any exercise, apart from my emergency rescue work, then as a volunteer."
After this first attack, Ian found himself confronted with mixed feelings. "I have to say at the beginning I found it hard to deal with. Everyone feels they have to tell you how to live your life and you resent it - but perhaps inside you know things have to change." But it wasn't until Ian had his second attack in 2002, requiring stents to be put in yet again, that it really hit home. "This time around I knew I had to do something about it - my family deserved that. My wife's reaction was fear, mixed with a large dose of anger that I had let this happen.
"I decided to listen to my specialist and started to lose weight and most importantly go to gym, which I do five to six times a week now. I've never gone back to smoking and go for regular check ups. I have put back some of the weight I lost but I watch this carefully and am determined to reach my goal weight. It's a pity that it takes something like a heart attack to get people like me to sit up and take notice."
*A stent is a small stainless steel tube mounted on a balloon catheter. It is introduced into your coronary artery after balloon angioplasty and is positioned at the site of the obstruction. The balloon is inflated and the stent expands, pressing against the inner walls of the artery. The balloon is then deflated and the stent remains in place.
We have cardiologists and experts in this field ready to be interviewed and give any information needed to get this message across to your readers, as well as ordinary South Africans who have suffered from heart disease and are happy to share their stories.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michelle Kearney,
Project Director: Communications & Public Relations,
The Heart and Stroke Foundation SA
+27-21-447 4222 -
email: michelle@heartfoundation.co.za
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