A loved one's perspective

In 2000, my daughter moved with her 4-year-old from Victoria to Queensland and commenced a personal training course. She had episodes of SVT and had chest pain on and off at rest.

In 2005, she had a successful ablation and, although she fainted afterward, recovered quickly.

However, bouts of chest pain continued and, on a visit to QLD, I noticed she had a grey, gaunt appearance. Visits to various GP’s were unsuccessful.

It was around 8:30am February 10th, 2020, that Mum woke me complaining of chest pain. By 9:15am, Mum had been given a shock and CPR to get her heart beating again.

From this point, there were around seven emergency workers in the house all working to save my Mum’s life. I was told snippets of information while I sat with a close neighbour trying to digest everything.

I was then told the Air Ambulance was on the way. The Dr on board, Cosmo, explained what would happen from this point.

I was nine years old when my mom had her first spasm.

I remember going home with a friend and her mother explaining to me that my mom was in the hospital.

She said she didn’t know how long I would be staying with them.

We lived in a rural town, and she was transferred to the nearest large city, for which I am very thankful.

Mary and I would take long walks in our town. We walked for miles, visited shops, laughed, talked, took photos, and enjoyed the day.

The onset of her health decline became evident when she no longer had the endurance that she had only a short time before.

She had extreme fatigue, pain, and shortness of breath after very little exertion.

After some time, her doctor recommended cardiac catheterization to rule out a blockage.