'Be grateful you woke up': Reminder from local woman during heart health month
According to Statistics Canada, 14 Canadian adults, diagnosed with heart disease die every hour.
"Be grateful that you woke up,” says Christine Montgomery, 58, who is one in every 12 adults who live with heart disease in Canada. “Every day is a blessing."
Doctors discovered a hole in her heart at the age of five. The Windsor woman had her first open heart surgery at seven.
“They manually go in and they actually cut your ribs and open it up to expose the heart,” she said.
At 32, she says doctors discovered her Atrioventricular Septal Defect (ASD) returned. In addition, a diagnoses of valve disease which she says was monitored through medication.
In 2020, she had her second open heart surgery in London, Ont. She is currently waiting for surgery to repair a fractured sternum wire.
Christine Montgomery is one in every 12 adults who is living with heart disease in Canada. (Source: Christine Montgomery)
"You just have to be very, very positive in life," she says.
Montgomery is a member of the Canadian Women with Medical Heart Issues. The Facebook Group kicked off 2024 with the launch of an online magazine. Her story will be shared in the April issue.
She says she’s living her life to the fullest but hopes to one day write a children's book about a child going through open heart surgery, just as she did.
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