Heart patient tells how husband saved her life (From The Argus)

Heart patient tells how husband saved her life

2:30pm Friday 19th September 2008 in Search By Siobhan Ryan, Health Reporter

A mother-of-four with a life-threatening heart condition has spoken about how lucky she is to be alive.

Sue Lord once had to be resuscitated by her husband Steve after she stopped breathing and now has an internal defibrillator keeping watch over her.

Mrs Lord, 43, suffers from cardiomyopathy, a condition which causes the heart to enlarge and pump less strongly.

Her heart could potentially stop at any time and the defibrillator, a small device fitted under the skin below the collar bone, automatically shocks the heart if it registers an abnormal rhythm.

Mrs Lord, of Warrior Close, Portslade, has been told she is likely to need a heart transplant in the future but at the moment is determined to live life to the full.

She was speaking about her experiences to mark National Cardiomyopathy Week, which starts tomorrow.

The event, organised by the Cardiomyopathy Association, is held each year to raise awareness of the condition.

Mrs Lord, formerly a cook supervisor at Downs Park School in Hove, first discovered she had a heart problem at the start of 2007.

She developed breathing difficulties and was taken to hospital where doctors put her on a variety of drug treatments to help her heart work more efficiently.

Mrs Lord said: “I’ve never smoked and don’t drink. I eat healthily and keep fit so the diagnosis came as shock.

“Then suddenly out of the blue last September I was watching television with my daughter Kayleigh when I started to have a fit. My lips went blue and I stopped breathing.”

Kayleigh called for Steve, 45, who had learnt first aid skills with St John Ambulance.

He immediately started CPR while waiting for ambulance resuscitation crews to arrive.

Mrs Lord was given a 10% chance of survival but she eventually pulled through.

The defibrillator was put in and just two days later she lost consciousness again.

However, this time the machine fired off and she came round shortly afterwards.

Since then Mrs Lord has had no serious problems although she gets tired easily.