Herald Russell, 72, retired researcher, lives in London
I was unaware of a seismic change in my health. It was getting harder and harder for me to make things simpler. I’d walk half a mile and feel exhausted and out of breath or I’d walk up the stairs and be short of breath.
It was very frustrating as I had always been in very good shape, I used to jog a lot and go to the gym. But one night in 2017, I was laying in bed and my breathing felt like it was using tiny pockets of air, instead of the normal inhalation of fluids, and I felt like something in my chest “exploded”.
It prompted me to go to the GP who referred me to a specialist. I was told he had a leaky aortic valve and a rapidly expanding heart, which was life-threatening. It was horrible to hear. I thought, “My God, I’m hanging by a very thin thread here; He could have died at any time.”
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