Straight to the heart of the problem

Last week I was diagnosed with a heart condition called ventricular tachycardia, a potentially life threatening electrical fault of the heart that has been present since birth. Although I have experienced the episodes caused by this condition in the past with varying degrees of severity, I have turned a blind eye to the problem for a number of reasons. Firstly, I thought it was my asthma. Secondly, I thought if I ignored it enough it would just disappear. Thirdly, I was in denial that something could be wrong. It took a very scary episode to wake me to my senses, a slap in the face by my own mortality, to seek expert medical advice.

Within a number of days I transitioned from visiting a cardiac electrophysiologist with no expectation of a diagnosis any time soon, to having surgery to correct the condition, and then home again and pinching myself to see if it was all just a dream. The procedure, an electro physiology study (EPS) diagnosed the location of the electrical fault in my heart, and then a radio-frequency catheter ablation was performed to correct the fault. Sounds very high tech, I know, trust me it was mind blowing what my doctors performed in just 90 minutes. I am forever grateful for their expertise, and expect a full recovery and re commencement of training very soon.

The bad news is that I will be missing the first series of the Adventure Racing National Series on the Gold Coast, a race I have won back to back in 2006 and 2007. This is very disappointing news, especially seeing that I feel I have been in my best form ever. On the flip side I am very grateful to have found a solution to a problem that has plagued my training and racing over the past years, especially so in 2007. I am hoping to return to competition in time for the 2nd race of the Anaconda Series in Forster at the end of August.

A big thank you to everyone including my sponsors, especially Epic Kayaks who have just come on board and have been very understanding, my family and friends for your support during this difficult time, I feel so lucky to have such great people supporting me.

I am looking forward to getting back into the training and racing, am more motivated than ever before and hope to see you all at Forster on August 30/31.

Christie x