'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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.