Story
Paul
I am going to attempt to run the
LAKE VYWERNY HALF MARATHON ...SEPT 9TH 2012
to help raise money for GUCH, on behalf of my wife Debbie, PLEASE SPONSER ME AS EVERY PENNY HELPS...
Debbies Story....so far...
I was born a blue baby, with a rare heart defect called, congenitially corrected transposition of the great arteries with a VSD and pulmonary stenosis...
throughout my childhood i have had various operations and procedures, including open heart surgery aged just nine and had amazing care at Birminham Childrens Hospital, throughout this time.....whom without them i would never have reached adulthood...
....Upon reaching adulthood my care was transferred to the GUCH Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, recently my health has started to deteriorate and i have recently undergone my second open heart surgery (Dec 2011), with the possibility of more in the future.
We dont know what my future holds, but, as long as im able, I will keep on fighting for as long as i can, and always with a smile on my face.
Being a GUCH patient means I will need lifelong specialist care by a team of doctors who understand my back to front heart and the problems I have to face along the way.
Please, sponser my husband who is running on my behalf, every little helps.
Thank you so much.
Deb's xx
Heart update - July 2012
Following my open heart surgery in December last year, my mitral valve has deteriorated to the point that it now needs to be replaced. I will therefore be going under the knife yet again for mitral valve replacement and they may also change the type of pacemaker I have to a CRT device. This needs to be carried out quite quickly and so I believe this will be done towards the end of this year. Please sponsor us as its so important to us to give something back. ..Thank you so much.
What is congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA)?
In a normal heart, the left-side pumping chamber (left ventricle) sends blood to the entire body, whereas the right-side ventricle pumps blood only a short distance, to the lungs. The left ventricle is built stronger than the right ventricle, because it has to work harder.
In congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA), the heart twists abnormally during fetal development, and the ventricles are reversed: The stronger left ventricle pumps blood to the lungs and the weaker right ventricle has the harder chore of pumping blood to the entire body.
CCTGA can cause problems, particularly for the right ventricle, which must work harder than it was meant to. For many patients, in the long run, the ability of the right ventricle to continue to function effectively will determine how well they are.
CCTGA is a rare heart defect. Only 0.5 to 1 percent of all people with heart defects have CCTGA.
In CCTGA both ventricles (pumping chambers) are reversed and the arteries coming off them are inverted as well. The end result is paradoxically a blood flow pathway which is normal. This led to the confusing term “corrected” for a complex malformation in which the heart is far from being normal.
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