9 out of 10 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital die. In most of those cases, bystander CPR was not performed. But we can change this. \u200bI walk to save lives like mine!
Hi! I'm Brittney. I'm 29 years old, married and have 3 beautiful kids! Since I was in elementary school I have been dealing with heart issues. The first ever episode I had was in elementary school. When I have an "episode", I pass out fully unconscious. I remember it easily. I remember playing in the field with friends before the school bus came, then it hit me... The stomach pain, the dizziness, I remember my mom saying the bus was here time to go and I told her my stomach was really hurting. Of course at that time, my mom just thought I didn't want to go to school. As I was getting on the bus, everything went black and I was out. Ambulances were called and they said because I was running around it could be dehydration or blood sugar. My whole 29 years of life I've worn multiple heart monitors, went through multiple tests, doctors, many false diagnoses. Very traumatic starting at the age of 7 I'd say!
It wasn't until 2020 when I was pregnant with my twins that I really took things serious. I always thought I was just overthinking and I just needed more water. One day I was going take our oldest to school and I had to sit for a min. Next thing you know I woke up on the sidewalk. Thank God I didn't get behind the wheel to drive! At that moment I knew I had to find out what was really wrong. My OBGYN had me get a EKG/Echo of the heart. It was then discovered that I have a condition called "Bicuspid Aortic Valve."
Bicuspid Aortic Valve- A genetic heart defect that occurs when the aortic valve develops with two flaps instead of the normal three.
As my OB described and my Cardiologist, my heart works a little harder to pump due to having the missing flap and the blood/oxygen falls through due to not having a tight close. It only got worse from there.
After having my twins in 2020, I started having more episodes. I had a few from 2020-2023. Drs could not find the issue. Once again I went through multiple heart monitors, tests, diagnosis. To the point my cardiologist even thought it was my blood pressure. I have very low blood pressure to the point I was put on meds to try to bring it up. They didn't work... While wearing the monitor the doc saw my heart was going slow in my sleep and would even pause. Then I was sent to a new doc.
It wasn't until 2023 that I was sent to an electrophysiology dr. This is where everything got better!! He saw the heart monitor results. At first they wanted to implant a pacemaker but due to my age, the doc didn't want to go that far. In February of 2024 I got a loop recorder implanted. The doc wanted a "closer look" at the waves and beats of my heart. I had the recorder in for about a year. Within that year, I've had more episodes than I've ever had in a year!! After looking over results and multiple visits and trying different things we finally got answers!
The loop recorder showed that each episode that I had, my heart would stop longer each episode. My last episode in Nov of 24, the recorder showed that my heart had a pause of almost 30 seconds. It was at this point my doctor decided a pace maker would be the best choice for a better/longer life! In April of 25 I had a pacemaker put in. It is a 2 lead pacemaker. At the age of 29 I never thought I would have a pacemaker and neither did my doc! But here we are, living life and enjoying every moment of it! With that being said, my heart issues are classified as:
Bicuspid Aortic Valve, low blood pressure, hypervagotonia and a pace maker.
I walk for myself and others like me! With your help, we can help others learn the importance of knowing CPR and how to perform CPR in case of emergencies!