A will for life: 'My heart problem was a huge shock - I was so active' THE FORMER NURSE WHO HAD TO HAVE SURGERY TO REPAIR DAMAGED VALVES IN HER HEART - A CONDITION SHE'D BEEN LIVING WITH UNKNOWINGLY SINCE SUFFERING A FEVER AS A CHILD.

Byline: Alison Duck

MARY COURT'S life was turned upside down when she suffered a heart attack. Little did she know that she had been living with damaged heart valves since she was a child. A new heart scanner at Walsgrave Hospital, which has enabled research into bypass operations to be carried out, revealed the ticking timebomb. Feature writer ALISON DUCK reports on the fourth day of our campaign to raise money for the National Heart Research Fund. FORMER nurse Mary Court had no idea she had been sitting on a timebomb for most of her life.

It was only after suffering a heart attack two years ago that she discovered she had lived with damage to the valves of her heart since being struck down with rheumatic fever as a child.

"I never even knew that I had suffered rheumatic fever," said 71-year- old Mary at her home in Finham, Coventry.

"Apart from inflaming the joints, it apparently will sometimes damage the valves of the heart. As you get older, that damage becomes more apparent."

Mary had always been active, right from when she was a child walking 2 miles to school every day. Walking was a pastime she took up in later life with her husband Geoff.

"In 1998, I learned to swim. I was so thrilled but then suddenly I could not walk, could not swim, could not do anything," she said.

It was in December of that year that Mary was woken up one night by the feeling that her heart had turned over. She was admitted to Walsgrave Hospital where doctors kicked her heart back into rhythm.

"It came as a big shock to me because I was so fit. I could not accept that I was ill," she said.

Believing that it was a coronary defect, doctors put Mary on a trial of a cholesterol-reducing drug.

During the course of the trial, Dr Jasper Trevelyan, research registrar in cardiology, decided to put Mary on a new heart scanner which had been installed at the hospital. Immediately, the scanner revealed that Mary had mitral stenosis, a condition which causes the narrowing of a heart valve.

"The mitral valve had closed up so much that it almost would not let the blood through," she said.

After doctors were unable to stretch the valve, they decided she needed an operation to repair it, rather than more common surgery to replace it.

"They operated on me in June last year. Unfortunately, I got fluid on the lung but after I had had that drawn off I immediately began to feel the benefit of the operation," said Mary, who has five grandchildren.

"I shot up the stairs at home one day and thought 'Good heavens!' I said to myself that every time I go up the stairs I would say thank-you to my heart surgeon Mr Patel and all those concerned at Walsgrave."

Mary's quality of life has vastly improved since the operation. No longer suffering from breathlessness, she enjoys regular workouts on an exercise bike at home and is looking forward to going out for long walks in the summer.

"When I was nursing, people like me would have died," she said. "But thanks to the advancement in heart surgery as a result of research, I am still here."

Having been through the trauma of a heart scare, Mary is more than happy to donate to heart research.

"Now I have had the operation, I am going to live a long time so they could be waiting a while!"

HEART DISEASE - DID YOU KNOW?

THE average heart beats about 70 times a minute.

THE UK's death rate from coronary heart disease is falling, but is still among the highest in the western world.

CORONARY heart disease affects the arteries which supply blood to the heart. It is usually caused by the "furring up" of the arteries, resulting in a heart attack or angina.

"FURRING UP" is caused by fats and other substances building up on the artery walls, restricting the blood flow or preventing it altogether.

EVERY day more than 800 people in the UK suffer a heart attack and more than 500 die due to heart disease.

REGULAR exercise and a healthy diet are among the best ways of reducing the risk of heart disease.

SMOKING increases the risk of heart disease by 50 per cent. Quitting smoking reduces the risk by half after a year and returns to that of a non-smoker after four years.

CAPTION(S):

FIGHTING FIT: Mary Court stays active by working out on her exercise bike