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

Mark: "Like a lot of people, men especially, I bottled it up and just wanted to get back to work."

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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: "Trust that you know your own body. 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: "It shook me. 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

Lisa Kenny: "As a result of my stroke, I had aphasia. It was really hurtful."

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Sharon: "An illness can strike and change your perception of the important things in life."

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Roy: "You are thrown to the wolves - look after yourself now. You need to break down that barrier"

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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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Joe: "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 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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Heart Attack

Kirsty: "I don’t want other people to go through what I went through."

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Donal: "With a heart attack at age 34, I knew I had to make changes"

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Bernadette: "I ignored the signs of heart disease. It’s important to get symptoms checked"

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

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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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CPR and Cardiac Arrest Stories

Colm: "I am incredibly proud of my daughter who saved my life"

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Derek: "There’s no doubt about it, CPR saved my life"

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Rosaleen: "If it wasn’t for CPR I wouldn’t be alive today"

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Diarmuid: "Without Ger being trained in CPR I wouldn’t be here today"

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Michelle: "My life was saved by accurate CPR, unfortunately not everyone is as lucky as I am"

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

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Other cardiac conditions

Celine: "I was kept awake most of the night with leg cramps and feeling tightness in that one leg."

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Garry: "I drove myself to hospital and fell in the door."

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2025-06-20