The 2018 Commonwealth Games baton relay runner put it down to stress surrounding Covid but a couple of days later, started vomiting and ‘looked grey’.
Husband Michael called an ambulance and she spent the next 10 days in hospital finding out that her normal ‘fit’ heart rate of 50 beats a minute was now clocking 266 bpm.
“I had a defibrillator inserted into my chest and was told that I would never run again,” she said.
Rachel suffers from Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a disease of the heart muscle where fatty tissue replaces normal heart muscle.
“I am back to walking and pilates but I can’t stress enough that if you feel anything different such as dizziness, see your GP immediately,” she said.
“The surgeons told me I only had about 10 minutes to live when I arrived at hospital so I’m thankful we got there in time.
“There was no heart disease in the family and genetic testing also came up with no markers so that means that this can happen to anyone.”
Sadly, heart disease is the single biggest cause of Australian deaths.
This coming February for ‘RedFeb’, Heart Research Australia is inviting residents to wear ‘red’ for someone close to their heart to help keep families together for longer.
Details, donations: heartresearch.com.au/redfeb.
Wear red to help fight killer
PANANIA Park Run founder Rachel Allworth was in the prime of her life and at the peak of her fitness when she was struck down with a mystery illness at age 45 in 2020.
