Woman urges people to ask for check-ups after hers detected a heart problem

Tue, 12 Sep, 2023 - 01:48

Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent

A 52-year-old woman whose heart valve disease was found during a check-up after her husband became ill has urged people to monitor their heart health to treat this potentially fatal condition.

Some 30 people out of 300 offered a free stethoscope check were identified as needing further testing, an event in Galway run by heart and stroke charity CROI found.

Rachel Nohilly requested a heart check having seen her husband Jack go through heart surgery recently. In his case, she said: “Due to a stroke a heart issue was discovered and he had open-heart surgery. He is fully recovered.”

She was not expecting her own check-up to reveal anything as she had no symptoms. It is unfortunately a disease she is familiar with having been treated as a child for a valve condition.

However, testing found new problems with this valve, and she said: “It was only functioning at 50% capacity. It was decided this needed to be replaced.”

In mid-July the Galway medical team opted for non-invasive surgery; a transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement. Thanks to the early detection, she said: “I avoided the trauma of open-heart surgery which Jack had to undergo.”

Now back at work, she said: “I am trying to push and tell people that you need to advocate for yourself, for your own health.

“The doctors won’t come looking for you, you have to go and be proactive and become a little bit educated and aware of what good heart health actually means. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions, and ask GPs to have a listen to your heart.”

Rachel Nohilly: “I avoided the trauma of open-heart surgery which Jack had to undergo.” Photo: Ray Ryan

She said: “It’s so quick, it’s putting the stethoscope to your heart and your lungs and having a listen. They will hear if there are irregularities in your heartbeat. It’s as simple as that.”

Dr Sarah Early, cardiothoracic surgeon at St James's Hospital and clinical senior lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, said heart valve disease is treatable but potentially very serious otherwise.

“People can have heart valve disease and not know about it,” she said. “It’s a really simple thing to pick up with a stethoscope.”

She recommended: “If you are going in to your GP for a cough or a cold, make sure you say ‘would you mind just listening to my heart and make sure I have no murmur?’ and they can do that.”

Rachel Nohilly: "You shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions, and ask GPs to have a listen to your heart.” Photo: Ray Ryan

She said there is definitely no need to make appointments just for this purpose, saying: “The key thing is to treat people when it is early. When you catch it early generally you have done no damage to your heart.”

However, she explained: “If you start to develop symptoms with heart valve disease, with say aortic valve disease, with the onset of symptoms 50% of patients are dead within two years if you leave them untreated. So it is really serious.”

This is particularly important now as routine healthcare was disrupted during the pandemic, she said, adding: “What I have found is with all cardiac disease, patients did not come to hospital, and when they do come they are much sicker."

For Heart Valve Disease Awareness Week CROI offers free checks from volunteer doctors: