01

I don’t know where to start.  I was born with a bicuspid aortic  valve.   Open heart at 4, vivid and vague memories.  Fairly active lifestyle, worked out, physical job, enjoy outdoors etc.    At 30 years old, in 2013 I had an aortic aneurysm and was apparently in heart failure for some time. (More on that in my book....jk....maybe I should write a book)  Anyhow, finally went to the hospital to find this all out and a few days later, I was the proud owner of new and literal ticker.  (Fun in quiet

May

2019

01

When I was 20 years old and a sophomore in college, I blacked out during my last math class of the year. I remember coming to and seeing a lot of confused, worried faces around me. My classmate leaned over and whispered, “Are you ok? I think you just had a seizure.” I brushed her off, telling her that there was no way that had happened, and that I was fine. I walked out of class, ignoring the weakness and dizziness I was starting to feel. Soon after, the right side of my body began shutting

May

2019

29

14th December 2017 is a date that my family and friends will never forget. My memories of what happened are hazy, I was sat in the lounge after lunch and then I was shaking, on the floor and unable to communicate. I was transferred to our local hospital, where it was confirmed that I had a blood clot in my carotid artery, had suffered a severe stroke and needed emergency surgery to remove the clot. The surgery went well, and scans the following day showed that the quick response of the

April

2019

29

Monday June 11, 2018, I woke up and went to CrossFit. It had been an arduous few days very stressful with little sleep. 42 years old and for all intents and purposes in great health. I was still adjusting to the heat in the south and had pushed myself and did a competition two days before on Saturday. A day later on Sunday we had moved into our house.  I was just going through the warm up, nothing strenuous, and had started a 500 meter row. I had felt a little "off" before this but nothing, I

April

2019

29

July 19th, 2017 around 3:40pm is a day I will not ever forget. I was an 18 year old that had just graduated high school a month prior. It started like any other summer day, I met my dad at the gym and started working out. I was doing bicep curls, then I suddenly felt the whole room spinning a million miles an hour. I instantly dropped the weight and sat down on the ground. I felt a weird sensation in my head and my fingertips started to go numb. (I started feeling numbness in my fingers and face

April

2019