Malin’s 14-year-old daughter Valeria is a normal, active teenager. Valeria became passionate about running cross country and started running every day but soon began to feel short of breath while on her runs and would need to stop to walk. Malin didn’t give it much thought until her daughter was running on the treadmill at home one day and Malin saw Valeria’s heart rate reach 250 beats per minute.
“After working 15 years in the ER myself, I just knew from experience that something was wrong with her heart and I was so worried.” says Malin.
During a visit to the hospital, Dr. Bhavya Trivetti diagnosed Valeria with a heart issue called Rapid SVT, an issue that could be corrected through a heart ablation surgery. Thankfully, Valeria did well in surgery and was able to get back to cross country just a few months later.
Not only did she get back into her normal fitness routine, but Valeria ran her fastest two-mile race ever, in just 17 minutes! Valeria couldn’t believe it, before her surgery she had placed 100th in a recent cross-country race. After the surgery she placed 7th and couldn’t help but get emotional.
“I just wanted to fall on the ground, and I was so happy. My coach was very proud and saw a huge difference and my teammates were shocked. They said I have a bionic heart!” said Valeria.
If they never caught the issue, it could have easily developed into a heart arrhythmia. Today, Valeria is more passionate than ever about running and Malin is so grateful that they found the issue before it got any worse.
“Any kind of heart condition is nothing to play around with. For any mom who is struggling, you are in the best hands possible at AdventHealth. We take pride in what we do and the team at AdventHealth just went above and beyond for us.”
To help more patients like Valeria, please consider donating here to the Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute at AdventHealth.
