Her Heart Matters

Real Life Stories

Stories from those affected by heart & stroke

If you are living with heart disease or have had a stroke or heart event, you are not alone. On this page you'll find stories from those affected by cardiovascular disease and thier families.

Her Heart Matters

Karen: "At no stage did I think it was heart related. I am so lucky to be here."

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Debbie: "I feel like I have a healthy heart - I go to the gym, walk everyday and don’t smoke."

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Emma: "I wrote off my breathlessness so many times. Your heart matters, look after it."

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Maura: "I didn't know my blood pressure was dangerously high."

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Grainne: "It took two days to sink in what happened."

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Shirley: "This is what women feel like when they are having a heart attack."

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Rachel: "I woke up in hospital and my two kids looked terrified."

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Melanie: "I had no symptoms before my heart attack."

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Sharon: "Your gut tells you when things are not right…... and you have to listen to that."

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Claire: "She cared for everyone else, to the extent where she just neglected herself."

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Glenda: "Siobhán had such a big heart and her heart just died, really and truly."

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Heart Disease & Heart Failure Stories

Anthony: "If you know something’s wrong, don’t wait. Take control of your health."

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Michael: “It was quite a shock. It sounds like a death sentence and time is up"

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Alan: "I went to bed and woke up in ICU a month later with heart failure"

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Karen: "Living well with heart failure requires continuous self-management"

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Liam: "I thought that I had a chest infection and heart failure didn’t enter into it"

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Lizzy: "Women need to trust that they know their own bodies. If you know something’s wrong, don’t wait."

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Sheilagh: "There is life after a diagnosis of heart failure. I am one of the lucky ones."

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Niall: "I remember thinking I wanted to cry but it wouldn’t come out"

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Ciaran: "Three heart attacks at age 30 – I felt like an old man in a young man’s body"

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Stroke & F.A.S.T Stories

Roy: "You are thrown to the wolves - look after yourself now."

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Meaghan: "I couldn’t do anything – I couldn’t sit up or move my head."

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Carrie: "When you think about your life and how it was, you want to get it back."

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Siobhan: "I spoke to myself out loud and realised my speech was slurred."

Stroke, Act F.A.S.T.

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Michael: "I knew immediately what was happening, that it was a stroke."

Stroke, Act F.A.S.T.

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Tracey: "I was in a foreign country, didn't know anyone and struggling with a stroke."

Stroke, F.A.S.T.

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Chris: "I thought my brain was shutting down and I was going to die."

Stroke, F.A.S.T.

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Damien: "It happened to me at 39 ….I always thought it was only people in their 70s and 80s who got a stroke."

Stroke, F.A.S.T.

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Mark: You can go on or you can go under

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John: My wife's F.A.S.T. actions saved my life

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Pauline: The sooner you get help the more there is to save

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Yvonne: My neighbour's F.A.S.T. actions saved my life.

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Katie: I was afraid to leave the house in case I had another stroke

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Majella: Despite knowing young people can have strokes, I remember thinking, “You can’t be having a stroke."

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My stroke hit like a thunderbolt from the blue

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John: My stroke hit me out of the blue when I was outside weeding

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Paul: I was told I would never run again stroke age 17

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Eugene: I would encourage people to join a stroke support group in their area

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Enda: I had a headache, I wasn’t expecting it to be a stroke …it just came out of the blue

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Oscar lost his dad to a heart attack & donated so no children felt how he did.

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Donal: With a Heart Attack at Age 34, I knew I had to make Changes

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Lucinda: After experiencing a cardiac arrest, I learned CPR for my children

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Bernadette: I Ignored the Signs of Heart Disease

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High Blood Pressure Stories

Eddie: “A cup of tea saved my life”

High Blood Pressure

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Monica: "He thought the machine was faulty because the BP readings were all high, and getting higher"

High Blood Pressure

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Lynda: I thought I was invincible, but really I could have been a ticking time bomb

High Blood Pressure

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