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Woman survives surgery for tragic family heart condition |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 29 September 2005 |
A local woman has just survived life-saving heart surgery from a
condition which could have caused the death of six of her twelve
brothers and siblings.
| Patsy survived open heart surgery
with just days to live. |
Witta's Patsy Slight underwent open heart surgery to remove a Myxoma on her lower left ventricle after a revolutionary echo cardiograph scan detected the tumour.
The Myxoma, the rarest tumour you can get, was removed in an emergency operation conducted two days after the tumour was detected in a procedure which saved her life. If the tumour had blocked the ventricle, Patsy would have died instantly from coronary failure. She now thinks the echo cardiograph scan will make a difference to her and her relatives and children. Regular scans should be able to tip off doctors in time to avoid any complication should other family members develop the condition.
"All the remaining family members and their children have had the echo cardiogram and have so far been clear ... but they will need regular checks," Patsy said. "It's a fantastic machine and has given us all a better chance at life and sheds new light on what my family had been suffering." Sadly, for her lost brothers and sisters, the technique came too late. Patsy is no stranger to heartbreak given the events of her life.
Born in 1959 as the second youngest of 12, Patsy and her family suffered abuse and beatings from an alcoholic father from a young age. Conditions for all the children worsened when they lost their mother when she was 40. Patsy was just six at the time.
Her mother died of heart failure, a disease which to date has killed six of her immediate family and caused four others to require life-saving heart surgery.
So how does Patsy feel now after all she has been through?
"I have good days and bad days ...... I still suffer from the car accidents and depression linked to what's happened in my life," she said. "On the good days I'll do everything that I can but there's nothing you can do on a bad day."
Patsy is currently writing a book about her life story that she hopes to have finished and published next year. And in the meantime she is enjoying her new lease of life with her three children and husband.
"{I have a gorgeous children and and a loving husband, without whose help and support I just wouldn't have made it through." She said.
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Range News 2005 - ON 
