Wholehearted Phoenix star ready for kickoff

Football Ferns forward Paige Satchell will make her Wellington Phoenix debut tomorrow, four weeks after undergoing heart surgery.

Satchell was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia during last season’s A-League Women after experiencing heart palpitations while training with her former club Sydney FC.

The 24-year-old also experienced them during a Football Ferns match against Australia earlier this year and had to come off the field.

Satchell believed she had suffered from SVT for the past seven years, but it was only diagnosed when she purchased an Apple Watch and was able to share the data with a cardiologist.

Satchell underwent a two-hour operation last month. She was awake through the whole procedure.

‘‘It’s pretty crazy when I tell people that,’’ she said. ‘‘They go up through your groin and put wires into your heart and they can either burn or freeze these wires which are sending mixed signals and are ultimately making it go faster.

‘‘I got it frozen as it’s a bit less risky, but you’re awake during the procedure. I had two or three weeks off before I could return to playing.’’

Despite undergoing heart surgery four weeks ago, she is expected to start for the Phoenix in their first home game, against Melbourne City at Sky Stadium.

Satchell got through the first half of each of the Football Ferns’ two friendlies against South Korea this week, but was substituted at halftime in both as a precaution.

‘‘It’s called SVT for short, what I’ve got. I’ve had it for quite a long time, since I was 17 but we weren’t able to properly diagnose it until last year, when I was playing for Sydney,’’ she said.

‘‘I got to capture some data on my Apple Watch and I had surgery four weeks ago now. It sounds pretty crazy when I tell people I’ve had heart surgery but in terms of the procedure it was quite minor and it went really well.

‘‘Hopefully I won’t get the symptoms again because they were pretty annoying. I would have to come off in training or in the game, so fingers crossed it won’t happen again.

‘‘It was a good decision for me [to get the surgery done now], especially with the World Cup coming up as I’d hate for that to play a part in me coming off in one of the games.’’

Satchell said her heart rate would soar above 200 beats per minute.

The palpitations occurred most frequently when she exercised but she had never experienced them in a game prior to playing Australia.

She said it must have been ‘‘scary’’ for fans watching the game when she started lying down on the field in an attempt to lower her heart rate.

‘‘It doesn’t happen every time. It just pops up randomly but I’d start running and my heart rate would just skyrocket and it would go so fast.

‘‘It’s not great so when I do have it I do have to stop, so that’s what you saw in the Australia game. I had to lie down on the field for a little bit but it wasn’t stopping so I had to come off and put my health first.

‘‘But it had happened a lot in the past so I wasn’t super worried. I knew how to go about it, but to people looking on who weren’t sure what was going on it could look quite scary.’’

Satchell is lightning quick and a regular starter for the Football Ferns, and Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence said she was delighted to have her on board for the team’s second season.

Satchell is one of three capped New Zealand internationals to join the Phoenix. She helped Sydney FC clinch the premiership last season but the top qualifiers were beaten by Melbourne Victory in the grand final.

‘‘She’s going to be amazing on and off the field,’’ Lawrence said.

‘‘She’s the loveliest human . . . she has pace, she has experience, she’s a massive, massive signing for us, and she’s fully invested and can’t wait to get on the field.’’