Cardiac Athlete™ Spotlight: Beth Greenaway

Beth Greenaway was an extremely competitive athlete despite the fact that she was born with a pulmonary valve problem which required surgery in her childhood. Join us today as she describes the kind of problems she encountered after falling out of medical care for over a decade, how her athletic prowess was affected and what kind of treatment she needed in order to continue to be an athlete. Beth shares with us the incredible roller-coaster ride she went on until she finally got her heart into much better shape. You'll also discover what it means to Beth to be a Cardiac Athlete™ and how she's doing her part to help others going through cardiac rehabilitation.

The Hearts Unite the Globe (HUG) nonprofit organization is happy to welcome our newest Patreon subscribers, David and Ann Corbly to our HUG family.

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spk_2:   0:03
to heart. To heart with

spk_3:   0:04
Thistle is Anna Gorski, and I hope you've been enjoying our spotlight on cardiac athletes. Siri's Lars Andrews wrote a book called Cardiac Athletes, and he was a guest on my show. He's now gearing up to assemble cardiac athletes to featuring stories about athletes who have undergone cardiac procedures. Some of the athletes were born with congenital heart defects, and some have acquired her disease. I've really been enjoying interviewing some of the athletes who are going to be featured in his book, and today we'll meet Beth Greenaway. Welcome to heart to Heart with Annabeth.

spk_0:   0:37
Good morning, Anna. It's a really honor to talk to you and to share some of my story with your audience.

spk_3:   0:42
Well, I can't wait to hear what your cardiac condition is.

spk_0:   0:46
It's a fairly long story. I was born in 1972. I got diagnosed about six months after I was born with Palm. The stenosis and an atrial septal defect had my first surgery in 1981 when I was, I think, about nine and 1/2 and I did read me well after that for about 20 years, had no real restrictions, I wouldn't say I was an athlete at that point, but I enjoyed a bit of school sports, and then I went to university and graduated. But I've certainly wasn't an athlete by any means on Dhe. I went to university, and I think the normal thing happened at university, which was put on a few too many pounds, and I decided that maybe running with something I should do to try and get rid of my expanding midriff on Dhe I've certainly wasn't particularly good at it. But I started to enjoy being a little bit more active, and it certainly helped with the weight control. And shortly after I graduated, I moved to America off. See, I'm English. To start with, I moved to America, ended up in South Florida, which is a a place where people are extremely athletic or not athletic at all. On uh, on it really sort of accelerated my enjoyment of competitive athletics. I did a lot more running. Ultimately, I took up travel on because I started cycling and someone said you should swim, so I tried swimming on. Actually, I became a reasonably competitive recreational athlete. I It's half Iron Man's Wow marathon century bike rides. And really, for about eight or nine years, it was my life. I had a job, but actually, I worked my work around being a sort of competitive enjoying that lifestyle.

spk_3:   2:21
So you had your first surgery when you were nine years old? Yes. That's fairly old. Compared to a lot of pistol who are born with a congenital defect. And you were born to at the time, did they quote unquote fix both of their problems

spk_0:   2:36
when I was nine and 1/2? In theory, yes. The atrial septal defect was closed and I had some over was called it some work done on the pony valve, which made it sort of more effective. It made it work.

spk_3:   2:48
You didn't actually have a valve replacement?

spk_0:   2:51
No. I heard what they called a partner. A lobotomy which always amuses. May I think it means they ain't good with it. A little on I assumed at that point that would be the end of that piece of the story. I'm not sure I thought I was cured, but I certainly didn't expect anything. Toe come back later in life. It was sort of go off, lead your life, enjoy life. And really, what happened was in a way, I think I was my own worst enemy because I actually almost deliberately disengaged from medical follow up. You're supposed to have a have follow up every year or so. When I got to that rather awkward sort of 17 18 year old age, I think I disengaged from the medical follow up almost deliberately. I don't if that was denial or just a wish to distance myself from that part of my story. But my viewed it has sort of done and dusted. And I moved on as I became more physically fit and more athletic. That seemed to be so much in my past that, really, aside from the scar on my front, I didn't really imagine that would come back. Okay. No way. Yeah, okay. And I can say with complete honesty that it did come back from my health, started to deteriorate. I guess I was about 30 years old. My notice that I was finding it hard to race effectively and I was getting increasingly breathless. My exercise tolerance fell. I had started getting a lot of palpitations and I really wasn't sure to me part of that. I just Oh, I'm just getting older. Which was a very funny thing to decide. Oh, no. It's nothing to do with my heart. I'm just getting older and this happens to everybody. I think it's a little bury my head in the sand. At that point about that period, I actually moved back to the UK as well, which was somewhat fortuitous because most of my time in the U. S. I haven't had any medical insurance. So it really wasn't bad news. Yeah, that was in. I came back to the UK Eventually I started having some real palpitation problems, a rhythm here issues, and I actually deliberately re engaged myself with cardiology. And I went to see them and said, Listen, I think there may be an issue on Dhe. Indeed, it turned out that my poem unevolved that it just being tinkered with all those years before was in a bit of a state. I haven't helped myself. I'm not having any follow up for those 11 or 12 years. I have extreme gross regurgitation of that valve, very enlarged, right ventricle, hunger and obviously things were not what they should be on. Hence, I had Parmalee valve replacement via open heart surgery again in 2000 and five. Pony valve home A graph. So it's a human cat of Eric Valve. I was super fit, really. Going into that surgery, I had slowed down quite a lot, said the arrhythmia. Problems were holding me back, but actually, I believe the level of fitness I had going into that surgery gave me a reasonably uneventful recovery. I sort of saw that as a stepping stone. I thought, Right, I'll get this valve fixed and I'll be back to where I was before And indeed, in it bizarre way I did a little mini travel on six weeks after my surgery. Six months? Oh my

spk_3:   5:50
gosh, you know, that's a little crazy, right?

spk_0:   5:54
Yes, attention. It is crazy that to me, then that lifestyle was so much part of my identity. No, I just I just figured, well, get back to it. Going nothing. And it wasn't comfortable. It wasn't easier was slower than I imagined in the swimming, particularly, was uncomfortable.

spk_3:   6:11
Wait a minute back. Did you tell your cardiologists that you were going

spk_0:   6:18
well, economic with the truth? Thank me. Well, enough on. And he himself was an athlete, so he sort of understood and sympathized a little with my mentality. But

spk_3:   6:30
you learn the water and swam for how far?

spk_0:   6:34
I don't remember what it was. It wasn't particularly large. It was 500 meters or something like that and a little bit on a bike. And then I think so. Freak a run or somewhere in that vicinity. I think it was all done and dusted in about half an hour. But

spk_3:   6:47
you don't know that most people take 6 to 8 weeks to recover from surgery. Any kind of surgery you had open heart surgery.

spk_0:   6:58
Yes. I just get all life on a believer in. Maybe I pushed myself too hard, but I'm not sure. I think that mentality of just making the most of it pushing on has actually enabled me to achieve a lot more than I would have done otherwise. I don't What does Ah hold myself that really I'd rather push and find out what the limits are. And other than

spk_3:   7:21
said, did you collapse with exhaustion with your work otherwise right? So

spk_0:   7:26
not total total. And actually that sort of trajectory continued and I really did work quite hard to rebuild my fitness. I competed in a lot more running races. I did 1/2 iron, man. I think less than a year later Wow, I was never quite the level I was before. I was always a bit upset by that because I expected to actually come out of the surgery sort of better. I thought, Well, I'm going to be even better, and I wasn't better, but I certainly regained a fair bit of my fitness. And again, I just figured you make the most of what you can do. I don't live with the restrictions. I'd rather just push and see where you get Thio. I don't set markers before try. I say, Well, let's try and see what happens. I think I was very lucky because actually, when I listened to other people in similar situations that may I think I've had a relatively smooth story on All right. I still had somebody with a mere issues.

spk_3:   8:21
Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask you. So hold on a second. You had a pulmonary valve that had to be replaced. But you've said that after the 11 years of kind of falling out of care with your heart that part of your heart had enlarged. Now, was that what was causing the arrhythmia problems?

spk_0:   8:39
Yes. Very upset, actually. After surgery with the new valve in there, my heart didn't shrink right the way down to what would be considered normal size. But it certainly shrunk quite considerably on I

spk_3:   8:52
was gonna time because it took time for it to get enlarged. So

spk_0:   8:56
it would

spk_3:   8:56
be reasonable that it's going to take time for it to shrink back to the position. It

spk_0:   9:02
is quite surprising how quickly the volumes in the ventricle can change. I mean, I'm no medical expert. I've just become more of an expert in my own issues. But it's actually surprising how quickly the ventricle remodels without that extra load of a regurgitating valve. That ventricle cannot you remodel surprisingly quickly. And as it got smaller indeed, my arrhythmias became easier to manage on. It was always assumed those eight with Miers would be fairly benign and wouldn't cause me any significant issues. The little twist in the story, or one of the twists, is that that was assumed to be the case, and indeed itwas until February 2016 when I'm being too a cycle class spinning for want of a better word and shortly afterwards had gone home. I'd gone through at the supermarket and I noticed that I had some vision issues in my left eye, and there was a very strange sort of blah but the bottom I'm yes, it Yet again, my bury their head in the sand Principal followed, and I just ignored it. I thought, Well, that's very old, but I'll deal with that next week. Okay, Andi, Indeed I did. A few days later, I said to a very good friend of mine, I said, I've got this really strange Gone a bit missing the bottom of my left vision. And she is Ah, that's not good. You need to go to the eye hospital and see if they can figure that one out. And I went and to cut a long story short because it was a very strange set of circumstances and story. They said, Oh, well, we don't think you've had a stroke. We're not really sure what happened. Have a brain m r. I, anyway, to find out on. And it turned out that I had had a stroke. Now, unfortunately, that slight missing piece in the bottom of my left eye got worse over the period of a couple of weeks, and within a few weeks I had no usable vision in my left eye. I can still see out of it, but it's so useless that my brain at this point ignores it. So one eye person, which I would say out of all of the things that have happened to me that would be probably the most inconvenient I had issues with having to surrender my driver's license, which I did. Luckily, get back when I prove that I can see well enough out of the other eye. I think the biggest problem was it took away a lot of my enjoyment of exercise and my confidence. Really, because I don't see so well. My depth perception is not as good as it should be, right? Exactly. My beloved seif thing. I really thought, Well, this is it. I shall never go outside and cycle again because I feel very vulnerable. But luckily as usual, with the help of some friends, I've got some amazing cycling friends and things they said Well, listen, come out with us. We'll go really slowly. Well, right near you. So that we can prevent anyone from riding into you and we'll make sure you don't ride through any potholes or anything. I'm actually it's okay. I wouldn't say I enjoy cycling as much as I did before, but those really great people in my life have enabled me to continue to cycle and something I do honor to be a couple of times a week. At least I go out on my bike, some shorter ride, some longer rides. I ride up to 30 40 miles. I just do a fortunate to still be able to do that and to enjoy it, right, So I've sort of rebuilt from there. So we have the first surgery. We have the second surgery. Then we have the stroke on DDE. I always knew really, with that poem unevolved that was replaced in 2005. I knew that at some point that would need doing again, but it was assumed potentially I could have a catheter procedure which would save me another open heart surgery, which I think would have been wonderful. And it would have been 11 or 12 years since that pony valve replacement. But unfortunately, the next twist in the story is it all went roll the wrong again in March this year when when they're having Bean very unwell initially with a kidney infection, totally unrelated. Unfortunately, that somehow got into my system. Even though I had antibiotics to treat it somehow got into my system, and a month later I was very, very, very unwell and have been for several weeks, and it turned out I had contracted bacterial endocarditis. So the inside of my heart was massively infected. My omni valve waas Really in an awful awful state. I have what I love the term vegetation. So they were stuffing rowing inside heart.

spk_3:   13:26
Nobody likes to hear that. Beth. That's such a scary thing to think about.

spk_0:   13:32
It wasn't greater. There was obsessed and all sorts of things. I think partly again, I let it get on a little before I sought treatment. There's a repeating pattern here. You notice

spk_3:   13:42
really, really hoping this is a pattern that you've decided. I don't want this to continue anymore.

spk_0:   13:48
I think we're supposed to learn from our mistakes. I think I do, but Maybe I'm just a slow learner. I'm not sure again that maybe they're all mistakes. It's just part of life's process. You just go through these things either way, I ended up in an emergency admission in the hospital. Andi, I ended up in my local hospital who, actually, we're not capable of really dealing with the problem. So I was then got an emergency ambulance ride 130 old miles away to the local congenital heart center, where the theory was I would then get probably a month also I v antibiotics and surgery to clean up the damage that maybe another month of I v antibiotics. That didn't turn out to be the case. I had a scan the day after I got there on. It was not a pretty picture. Atal on the surgeon was in my room before I even got back to my room saying, You're on the table the day after tomorrow. I loved his term for it, but I shall remember it cause he said, I've ordered the parts you need. I got a great story store pick up some sort of part, made me giggle. I have a very pragmatic view on life, and I think I smiled and thought that was quite funny. I've ordered the parts you need. I had open heart surgery and yet another permanent valve replacement and various other tinkering around in there and actually again, in spite of the rather dire situation I was in when I went into that, Actually, I recovered reasonably well. I had a total of seven and 1/2 weeks in hospital with a PICC line and I v antibiotics four times a day for half an hour a month. That was okay, really, because I felt not particularly wonderful. The second month, I will say, was incredibly boring. Just to be stuck in hospital. They're providing. I was there for my antibiotics. At six o'clock 12 o'clock, six o'clock in 12 o'clock, I was pretty much free to wander around and do things. But being stuck in the hospital was not an environment I was particularly enjoying. I'm not sure you're supposed to enjoy it, but I felt like I wanted to be getting on with my life.

spk_3:   15:54
Yeah, I think they intentionally make it uncomfortable. So you want to get home?

spk_0:   15:58
I think I have discharged myself if I could, but the antibiotic regimen was such that it couldn't be administered anywhere other than in the hospital. So I sort of had to stay put, really. But even then, as soon as I heard I was getting out off the ward, I was walking. I figured out some walking routes around the place, and you make a plan to leave the hospital east three times a day. I'd go out after breakfast in the morning, out the door and walk around how many loops I could do and go back in. I do the same thing again between lunch and evening meal and usually again after that. So I always had a plan for three times a day to get out and do some sort of movement. Because to me movement is life and I didn't want to be stuck in the bed. I would have just gone completely crazy to be frank.

spk_3:   16:44
I loved our movement is life. I love that. That's awesome.

spk_0:   16:49
I don't think I'm actually that's unusual. Exercise or physical activity is absolutely critical, not just my physical health. I mean, obviously it's important for physical health, but to me it just takes so much care of my mental health. If I don't get that movement in and it doesn't have to be big things or particularly high intensity or anything else that I just need to move and I feel better for moving and I find when I do, I'm just a lot more of a mellow person. I mean, my goods are better. I don't get stroppy and actually I have a friend and if I ever do get Stroppy says Go and do some exercise that's what you need to d'oh!

spk_3:   17:27
So everybody knows you, that's people

spk_0:   17:31
medicate there, I say with alcohol. Some people medicate with drugs and other such issues. I don't I medicate myself with exercise. I

spk_3:   17:38
love it.

spk_4:   17:39
The most common here is why she always needed a lot of attention. She had strokes, even though it's a national inclination to withdraw from the CHD community. I think being a part of it helped me be part of the solution. Heart to heart with Michael, please join us every Thursday at noon Eastern. I'm Michael, even on I'll be your host as we talked with people from around the world who have experienced those most difficult moments

spk_2:   18:15
forever by the Baby Blue Sound collective. I think what I love so much about this CD is that some of the songs were inspired by the patient's many listeners will understand many of the different songs and what they've been inspired. Our new album will be available on iTunes. Amazon dot com. Spotify. I love the fact that the proceeds from this CD are actually going to help those with congenital heart defects join Music Home tonight forever. You

spk_3:   18:47
are definitely a cardiac athlete. You have been a cardiac athlete, it sounds like for decades. So tell me what being a cardiac athlete means to you, Beth.

spk_0:   18:57
It's making the most of life and its opportunities. I think if I didn't have that desire to exercise and toe push myself and to find out what those limitations are, I think I would have led less of a life, and I don't mean that in a negative way. But the things I've done athletically and these days on the very sort of poor shadow of the person I wasthe, but even so, it's still opens doors from it still brings me into contact with other cardiac athletes and people who are assumedly pushing their own boundaries on I love that, and it allows me to not let my diagnosis all my history, define who I am and how I live my life. That, to me, is really important. Yes, I am a cardiac patient. I can't remove that that part of my story, but it enables me to live beyond that part of my story. I'd almost say I see myself as an athlete first on a cardiac patient Second. Yeah, I have that.

spk_3:   19:56
That's awesome. Yeah, because it does seem like being an athlete is integral to who you are.

spk_0:   20:05
It is. It is absolutely part of my character and what makes me feel alive in the other part of my life, which is my working life. I run classes for physical activity, exercise classes for people with long term medical conditions. So I do a lot of cardiac rehab, cancer rehab, pony rehab. So I run group classes for people who had some sort of medical diagnosis and equally wish to get active activity. Now, in general, my client faces tends to be retired people, but I still see the same with them is that they're still trying to lead the best life they can after their diagnosis, and that, to me, is really inspiring. I love the fact that I can look out in my studio pretty much any day of the week and I can see people actually for whom. I think it gives me a great perspective because I look at them and I go, Oh, boy, I'm really glad I don't have your problems on. That thing's really strange, but perspective is it's such a powerful thing when you realize that, yes, you've got your own issues. But actually, no matter how bad or how difficult or how challenging your life is, there's always someone out there who's got it a whole lot worse, absolutely. To may. I love my work. Partly for that reason, I just feel so unbelievably grateful. My athletic life has enabled me to do that. Also, it's enabled me to work with those people and I don't like the idea necessarily that they find me an inspiration, but I get my inspiration from that most definitely

spk_3:   21:33
well, I'm sure you are an inspiration to them, though, and having somebody lead them in their exercise after something that's traumatic and painful and seeing that this young person, because you are young compared to the retired people that you've been through, what they've been through and probably much worse than what they've been through. And yet look, here you are leading the class. It's got to be inspirational.

spk_0:   21:57
I think we'll bump along together. Really. I think that's quite nice, because everybody appreciates that. Everyone else has different health issues, but also what it tends to do because those classes people work out together in a group. It also de stigmatizes their issues because they also look out and see other people with different diagnoses, different problems. And it makes them realize that life does go on and that you can still make the most of it. And we become so much more than our diagnosis. No, I was always fearful when I start well in a way fearful when I started the classes 10 years ago, also because I thought all these people would talk about was all their problems, and it turns out that's probably the last thing we talked about. We talked about the theater. We talk about what was on television last night. We're just people who just happen to have other things going on the life, and it's really nice to share time with people and discover that were just so much more than that diagnosis.

spk_3:   22:53
I love it. I love it. Well, this has been a fabulous episode. Thank you so much, Beth, for coming on the program.

spk_0:   23:02
No problem at all. It's been an absolute pleasure.

spk_3:   23:04
Well, it's always interesting to me to hear different people's experiences and how they rise above the challenges that they have faced. And, like you said, we're all facing different challenges. Thanks again for coming on the ship today, Beth. And that concludes this episode of Heart to Heart With Anna. Please come back next week when we will feature another

spk_2:   23:27
ruddy, ungodly and until then,

spk_5:   23:30
heart to heart with Anna is a presentation of hearts, unite the Globe and is part of the hug Podcast Network Hearts unite The Globe is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing resources to the congenital heart defect community to uplift and power and enrich the lives of our community members. If you would like access to free resource, is pretending to the CHD community, please visit our website at www Congenital heart defects dot com For information about CH D, the hospitals that treat Children with CHD summer camps for CHD survivors and much, much more.

spk_1:   24:15
Thank you again for joining us this week way. Hope you have been inspired on. Empowered to become an advocate for the congenital heart defect community. Heart to heart with Anna, with your host and Dworsky can be heard every Tuesday at 12 noon Eastern time.