My first post on a new blog! Welcome to my life, my story, and my journey.

Why am I here?

In 2024, I almost died. Seriously. I almost died.

I was born with an aortic bicuspid heart valve. That means my aortic valve, that is at the top entrance to the heart, has two leaflets instead of three. My aortic valve has to work harder to bring blood into my heart than a normal valve that has three leaflets. Everyone with a bicuspid valve is born with this. All of us have a heart murmur at some point because of this valve. The murmur is the audible sign there is something abnormal with the valve. In some people, this comes and goes. It’s not present very often. In me, it was present before I was even out of the womb. My heart murmur was always present.

My heart murmur was a sign of life-long aortic stenosis associated with a bicuspid aortic valve. I was monitored my entire childhood and into adulthood. The discussion of valve replacement was never “if” but always “when.” Replacement was coming… someday.

Someday was in June, 2024.

Why do I say I almost died? Because if I hadn’t had a heart valve replacement when I did, I wouldn’t be here. I might not have seen my 48th birthday in 2024. That’s how urgent my doctor scheduled surgery. Surgery was in June, 2024 because I might not have made it to July.

Over the past couple of years, I have found more people who are having cardiovascular procedures done before the age of 50. I have also found that most of us feel alone. We think we are alone because we are young. Heart disease is supposed to be for older people, or so we thought. The reality of the situation is that heart valve problems and cardiovascular diseases are very common in younger people.

We are NOT alone. We are much more numerous than we ever thought. Some of us never knew about our heart valve problems until adulthood. Some kids, like me, have known our entire lives. It doesn’t matter when we learn about it. What matters is how we handle it.

I’m still here. I’m still alive. I am saved by the grace of God and the science He gives us.

I’m here to let you know you are not alone.