A Wake-up Call!

I don’t know about you, but for me, sometimes things seem to happen for a reason. And, whether it is a good thing or a bad (if there is such a thing), more often than not it is about the impact it has on us, the insights we can gain, and what we come away with – than the actual event.

You know what I’m talking about. Like, when you’re thinking of someone and then they call. Or, you drift off in thought and end up stubbing your toe, you quickly realise that being present has its value. So, looking back there are a plethora of occasions where some occurrence had an impact on me that helped me become more aware, learn something or become a better person.

So, recently, the nation, if not the world, was thrown into sudden shock and pressing awareness around heart attack – Australia’s biggest killer. Bigger than all cancers combined apparently. The sudden passing of not one but two cricket legends, Rod Marsh and Shane Warne, due to heart attack, and to top it all off, Senator Kimberley Kitching succumbs to the same fate – all within the stretch of one week.

For me, it hit home. These are essentially people like you and me. Sure, well-known, highly regarded, stand-out careers, but they are also just people. And, with around 120 heart attacks being suffered every day right around our country; the first symptom of many of these being death, and around 80% being preventable – it rattled me to my core.

So, being shook up by these tragedies, I did what most people would have done. Yes, I went onto google. Not only is heart attack the number one killer of both men and women and affects over 20% of our population, but 25% of all heart attacks affect people younger than 65 years of age. The crucial risk group, other than the symptomatic high-risk group of course, is in fact, the intermediate-risk group. Basically, everyone with more than one risk factor – such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, genetics and age.

We are the ones who seemingly without warning or reason get struck down. I say ‘we’ here because I took the Virtual Heart Scan www.virtualheartscan.com.au – the quickest and easiest way to determine one’s risk group, and fell straight into that intermediate category. I am 54 years old, generally fit and healthy, but I have also worked high-stress jobs, used to drink a lot more than is recommended, loved my rich foods, plus spent some younger years puffing too. I have been half as active as I used to be over the past decade, with more time in front of the computer and less running or doing exercise.

After being categorised in the intermediate-risk group – I was directed to undertake a 3D Heart Imaging Scan. This allows cardiologists to literally look inside your heart. The results are sent directly to the assessing cardiologist who is part of the Healthy Heart Network. In my case, preventative cardiology expert Dr Warrick Bishop, who advocates for early testing of both men and women to reduce the shocking heart attack numbers and to supersede the tow-truck approach largely taken around cardiovascular disease.

I mean, we ship a test kit out to everyone over 50 to actively detect bowel cancer early; promote regular mammograms for breast cancer – yet we don’t routinely test for cardiac health. 

Sad as it is, the passing of our Spin King Warnie, our legendary Rod Marsh, and our Senator Kitching, may be the wake-up call we needed to actually save some lives – who knows it could even be yours!

Resources:
www.healthyheartnetwork.com 

Free Virtual Heart Scan – easy risk group identifier www.virtualheartscan.com

Book your 3D Heart Imaging Scan – www.virtualheartscan.com/buy-now 

This article was first published under Life etc in Fraser Coast What’s On Magazine