Heart help based on own experience
A man who collapsed from an undiagnosed heart condition is now using his experience to help others.
Colin McVittie was unaware he has cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, until he suddenly fell ill in 2005.
He said: “My condition is genetic. Several of my relatives had died from heart problems, but my condition wasn’t immediately diagnosed, even after I collapsed. The symptoms can be mistaken for asthma and other conditions.”
Mr McVittie soon found he would struggle to walk up the slightest incline, but since he has had a heart valve replacement, he is much better.
He said: “I avoid very strenuous exercise but otherwise I’m pretty much normal.”
The condition often only manifests itself under situations of extreme physical stress, and as such is sometimes the cause of apparently fit young sportsmen and women suddenly collapsing – such as footballer Junior Dian, who died after falling ill while playing as a trialist for Tonbridge Angels in 2015.
Mr McVittie regarded himself lucky to have had his collapse when he did – at home.
He said: “I used to race motorbikes, and goodness knows what would have happened had it happened then.”
Mr McVittie, 57, who works in the transport industry, is now the organiser of a county-wide support group for cardiomyopathy sufferers. He said: “It’s important people are aware of the condition, the symptoms and what can be done.”
The next meeting will be at The Great Danes Hotel in Hollingbourne on Saturday, April 8, at 9.30am, when the guest speaker will be a Tunbridge Wells GP.
Further details can be found via www.cardiomyopathy.org.uk