Portsmouth woman to take part in Great South Run to raise money and awareness for charity

On the first day of a new job, Helen began to feel really unwell. As a first aider, she recognised that she was experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack but, at the age of 49 and having lived a healthy lifestyle, couldn’t believe it. Having had no obvious contributory factors, she was diagnosed with a SCAD-induced heart attack.

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection is an uncommon condition that cannot be predicted or prevented – yet. It predominantly affects people aged 45-55 and over 80% of cases are women.

Six days later Helen had another SCAD attack, this time causing a complete blockage in her coronary artery, requiring immediate emergency surgery. Helen’s case is so anomalous that it is being written up as part of a research article for the British Medical Journal.

Having no family history of heart problems and no warning or obvious health indications prior to either attack, this diagnosis has come as a complete shock to Helen and her family, who are so grateful that this condition was recognised and treated despite being rare. She has severe heart failure, a clot and is currently operating on 34% heart function.

There are only two SCAD consultants in the NHS in England so any money given will go a long way towards their research. Helen and her family are keen to raise the profile of SCAD so that others may benefit from her unusual experience and that progress can be made towards SCAD’s prevention and, hopefully, cure. We are hoping to raise as much as possible for https://beatscad.org.uk/

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