A FORMER paramedic from Hampshire has shared his story of being fitted with a cardio device following a series of heart attacks caused heart failure.
In line with British Heart Week, June 7 to 15, Leslie Birkenhead has shared how being fitted with a CardioMEMS system could save hospital beds and countless trips to A&E.
Leslie, 73, from Colden Common, was finishing a night shift in 1987 when he had his first heart attack and ended up being picked up by his own ambulance.
Following further attacks in 1998 and 2015, Leslie was diagnosed with heart failure. When he collapsed in his garden with a heart rate of 280 beats per minute in 2020, his consultant cardiologist Dr Andrew Flett decided to fit him with a CardioMEMS™ HF System.
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Mr Birkenhead said: “I had no inkling that anything more was going on and I just carried on after each heart attack.
“After being fit with the little paperclip sized device I feel much safer. It’s very good and stops me going into hospital with fluid overload because we can monitor it.”
Leslie’s wife Anne has an app on her phone where she can keep an eye on her husband’s levels. Anne, 66, said: “The CardioMEMS system is life changing, it’s amazing. Heart failure is a big old thing to bear and the biggest thing with it is fluid overload but with the system picks up an issue so then you can deal with it. It makes it easier to liaise with the hospital too.
“I feel sad that there is this product that there’s this product that not everyone knows about. People could save so much time and manage their own health.
“If I had no internet and couldn’t see the readings, I’d panic. It’s what I use to guide the day and what Leslie needs.”
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“It’s so important to share stories like these and recognise British Heart Week. The more people who know and understand, the better. If we could get just one person to think and talk with a consultant about getting the CardioMEMS system fitted, that would be amazing.”
The device is fitted in the pulmonary artery, which comes out the heart, and continuously monitors for pressure changes, flagging issues to a patient’s clinical team as they happen.
Leslie said: “There’s no words to explain how grateful I am. If everyone had one it would clear a lot of beds.
“I’d be in hospital a lot more with fluid overload. There’s the cost of diuretics and water tablets and it’s very time-consuming and daunting with the waiting times. You can end up going to hospital three or four times with the same problems. People that have heart failure shouldn’t give up, because it’s out there, they’ve just got to ask.”
The CardioMEMS device is made by the global healthcare company Abbott.
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