I suffered a heart attack at just 29, that’s why I want to help

It had been quite an ordinary day. Jane Kirop was attending evening classes at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She had just completed an eight-minute class presentation and was awaiting appraisal from her lecturer when the pain struck.

At about 7.30pm, she took a painkiller but thin beads of sweat began flowing down her head. The pain below her left breast persisted, prompting her classmates to rush her to the Aga Khan University Hospital.

“For about 30 minutes, it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Of course, the pain was unexpected. I had been perfectly normal and it had been a while since I last fell sick.” This is how Ms Kirop describes the chest pain that gripped her four years ago.

“I panicked. The burning in my chest increased by the second. When I arrived at the hospital’s Emergency Department, the doctors ran towards me and even though I sounded incoherent, I kept repeating the words chest and pain. They immediately began investigating my heart,” 33-year-old Kirop tells The Standard on Sunday.

And for the next 30 minutes, wires and electrodes were run on her chest, pulse checked and further tests done to ascertain whether her heart was working. By 9pm, her husband had arrived and the first conversation he had with the doctor gave a diagnosis that caught him off guard. “Your wife is having a heart attack. The good news is that she got here within the critical time,” she remembers the doctor’s candid words.

The promise that she would be treated and cured gave her the assurance she needed. During the seven-day admission, Kirop searched her mind on the probable cause of the heart attack at the promising age of only 29 years: not even genetic links bore any answers for this mother of one. “I was too young. None of my paternal and maternal side had been diagnosed with a heart attack,” she mulled as she searched for more causes like smoking and high blood pressure. Still, she got no answers.

“I have always associated heart attacks with older people in their 50’s. I never thought that I would be affected,” said Kirop. However, a subsequent health talk with her doctor before discharge shed light on what was ailing her. “My sedentary lifestyle and a love for fatty food with high cholesterol levels especially during lunch breaks at work had predisposed me to the heart attack. I had to exercise and cut-down on my weight,” says Kirop.

A daily exercise regime and diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and fibre would steer her towards better health. Skipping a rope and jogging once a week not only became an exercise regime but also family bonding time. With her health back on track, Kirop got pregnant a year later and delivered her second born.

inactive lifestyle

This drift from an inactive lifestyle to an active one has seen Kirop advocate for healthy lifestyles both at her workplace and in her social circles. “I got a second chance in life. My payback is by encouraging others from living sedentary lifestyles and improving their diets,” she says.

What is a heart attack? Consultant heart specialist Harun Otieno explains that a heart attack occurs when the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, decreasing blood flow to the heart thereby causing chest pain.

According to Dr Otieno, the chest pain serves as an initial warning sign that an individual can pick before it develops into a major heart attack. “Chest pain is the leading symptom, and if persistent immediate transfer to a facility with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks is required,” said Dr Otieno in an interview with The Standard on Sunday.

Dr Otieno notes the importance of rushing the patient to an equipped health facility within a time called the Critical Time.

“Time is muscle. Time is life. Delays in treatment can lead to death, thus every minute matters. If the heart is starved of oxygen for a few hours, irreversible muscle damage occurs, leading to heart failure, irregular unstable heart rhythm abnormalities called ventricular fibrillation and even stroke,” Dr Otieno says. Global studies have also found that availing the patient at a health facility with critical care units reduces early death rates from the condition by approximately half.

“Some of the most common causes of blockage in the heart is a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of blood vessels that supply the heart or the brain, making them narrower and less flexible,” says Dr Otieno. Dr Otieno notes that the word stroke is often used interchangeably to refer to a heart attack, although it is different in that a stroke happens in the same way but takes place in the brain. A stroke is triggered when the blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing damage to the brain tissue. This can cause paralysis of either side of the affected person.

He explains further how a heart attack occurs. The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it and this is made possible by the coronary arteries. If these arteries have a defect they become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as it should.

A heart attack occurs when a blood clot totally blocks the artery. The heart muscle becomes “starved” for oxygen, causing the death of heart muscle cells, resulting in permanent damage. The degree of recovery for a person who suffers a heart attack depends on how much damage was done to the heart muscle; the sooner treatment is sought, the more muscle doctors might save.

Some of the most prominent signs of a heart attack include discomfort in the chest area or below the breastbone, sweating, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath. Treatment includes medicines that dissolve blood clots or surgery to help restore blood to the heart.

Health experts advice an intake of the correct balance of healthy and unhealthy fats, which is critical for the well-being of your heart by avoiding fatty meats, sugary foods like cakes and biscuits as well as fried and processed foods.

Unfortunately, these foods are most popular among young and urbane populations. Reduction of salt in the diet is also recommended, since it triggers high blood pressure - a contributing factor to a heart attack.

The much lived sedentary lifestyles have forced many to visit hospitals more often, with the number of heart related disabilities and deaths on the increase today. A heart attack is however avoidable. And when one strives to lead a healthy lifestyle, then they can avoid a heart attack for the rest of their lives.