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Hayley Martin thought that he would die if he was suffering from a heart attack.
It is a rare disorder that causes a heart attack and often affects young women: spontaneous dissection of the coronary artery (CAD).
It occurs when a tear forms in one of the heart's blood vessels, which can block blood flow, causing a heart attack, abnormal heart rhythm or sudden death.
Doctors often advise women who have survived one of these events to not have children because of the risk of this happening again.
Hayley Martin, 47, remembers the morning very well when his life changed forever.
"I woke up very, very badly, I put my hands on my head and I was sweaty, I immediately knew that I had a heart attack", she told Victoria Derbyshire.
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The DEAC occurs when a tear forms in one of the heart's blood vessels, which can block blood flow, cause a heart attack, an abnormal heart rhythm or sudden death.
Hayley was 38 years old and was in good health when she underwent a spontaneous dissection of the coronary arteries.
Until then, the disorder had gone unnoticed and he had never been diagnosed.
But DEAC is the leading cause of heart attacks in women of reproductive age, aged 30 to 50 years.
And this happens many times no history of heart disease or risk factors.
Upon arrival at the hospital, Hayley, who lives in Cheshire, England, feared the worst.
"I remember what I said (to the doctors):" Am I dying? "And they just repeated," We try to do everything we can but nothing works, "he says.
"Devalued woman"
Hayley survived, but like many women with DEAC, she was told not to get pregnant because of the risk of another heart attack.
"It's another thing that stole me, I prefer not to think about it because it brings me into sadness," he says.
"I felt devalued as a person, as a woman, in failure, as if it was my fault."
What is spontaneous coronary dissection (DEAC)?
- DEAC is an often undiagnosed cardiac disorder.
- It mainly affects women, sometimes during or shortly after pregnancy.
- Menopause, extreme stress and exercise are also associated.
- During a heart attack, a tear or scar suddenly occurs in one of the coronary arteries and blocks the blood circulation.
- It can cause death, heart failure, cardiac arrest and force the patient to undergo cardiac bypass.
Source: Biomedical Cardiovascular Research Unit, Leicester, England
However, a clinic at Chelsea and Westminster hospitals in London is helping women with DEAC get pregnant and have a baby.
It is the first clinic of its kind in the world led by cardiologist Abi Al Hussaini.
Dr. Al-Hussaini is trying to make sure that women make an informed decision about whether or not to have a baby.
Dr. Al-Hussaini analyzes the cardiac damage caused by DEAC and examines the patient's medication, usually reducing the amount needed.
With this information, she tells the patient how dangerous her pregnancy can be.
The intention, he says, is that the patient makes an informed decision about whether to get pregnant or not.
If she decides to continue, the patient is referred to the "High Risk Pregnancy Team" of the hospital, which will follow her throughout the pregnancy.
"I've seen a lot of patients in recent years who are unhappy because they were told that they could not have children."says the cardiologist.
"That's one of the reasons I created the clinic, to give these patients the right advice and enable them to make an informed decision."
Sharp pain
Julie Murphy, 40, is one of the first women to have helped the clinic.
Julie Murphy and Holly play with Bella, born in April.
Shortly before her honeymoon in 2013, Julie started to feel bad, as if she had the flu. During the holidays in Kenya, the symptoms worsened.
One day, while swimming, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Upon his return home, he underwent heart tests and "the next day he discovered that he had had a heart attack".
The days and weeks that followed were very difficult.
"All the medications that they gave me really weakened and I could not even go up the stairs when I got back from the hospital, it was really hard to understand what was going on." passed, "he says.
Like Hayley, Julie learned that she could not have children. But then he started to participate in a research project of Dr. Al-Hussaini and her first daughter, Holly, was born in 2015.
She later became the first patient in the clinic to be pregnant for the second time. And his second daughter, Bella, was born in April.
Despite the hope she gives to her patients, Dr. Al-Hussaini said she has encountered resistance from some doctors around the world regarding how to counsel patients.
"In the United States, they are opposed to pregnancy after a heart attack or spontaneous dissection of the coronary artery," he says.
"But I think it's because there has not been a lot of research, but there are more and more studies going on."
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