Every Heartbeat counts

My story

My name is Nikki Renee Rose and I am 36 years old and I was diagnosed with my Right Heart Failure Disease when I was 18 years old.

This is a brief rundown what I have been through and am still going through. I would like to share my story and help raise money for what myself and other people go through with heart disease and how it changes and changed my life. At the age of 6 I was diagnosed with no ear drums and had numerous middle ear infections and perforated ear drums. When I was 8 years old I had operations and they made eardrums from the skin behind my ears (it is called tympanoplasty) and I still wear hearing aids as my hearing is down. Around 2002-2003 I was 16/17 years old and my parents noticed I was turning purple. Then when I was 18 years old, I was diagnosed with a Right Heart Failure Disease. I was turning purple around the lips and fingertips and then I was taken down to Brisbane Prince Charles Hospital and they found I had a hole in my heart after a lot of tests. So on the 24^th June 2005, I was taken to P.C.H. and they gave me an Atrial Septal Defect Closure which is where they used a balloon to close the hole in my heart. On the 17^th April 2017, it was my 31^st birthday and I was taken to the Hervey Bay Hospital with a racing heart beat where I died twice and they brought me back and they flew me to P.C.H. where on the 26^th April 2017 I had a defibrillator put in to try and help my heart work a little better. Now I am 36 years old and the right side of my heart is too weak to pump enough oxygen filled blood around my body. It also means blood doesn’t circulate back into my heart easily and that causes problems and have given me bad veins on my legs that bleed and swell a lot and I also have excess fluid leaking out of my veins caused from my right side heart failure. And since I was first diagnosed, I was put on oxygen every night for up to 8-10 hours a night and a C-pap machine and a fluid restriction of 1.25 litres every 24 hours. And the Doctors at Prince Charles Hospital have tried their best to stabilise my condition as I go and have been back and forth since I was 18 years old for tests to help me live my life the best way I can. They have done tests to see if I can have a heart transplant and the doctors said there will only be a 30% chance for me to come off the table alive and I said “I ain’t taking the risk.”

My moto is – There is always someone worse off than me. So I would like to help try to raise as much money for the Heart Foundation to get more information about Heart Disease to help other families in the future.

I’m hosting an event!

I’m passionate about saving Australian Hearts and I need your help to create change. That’s why I’m fundraising for the Heart Foundation – and I hope you’ll support me in this.

Heart disease remains Australia’s biggest killer, claiming 48 lives every day. Your donation will help the Heart Foundation to transform Australia’s heart health by:

• funding life-changing heart research

• supporting health professionals working to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease

• providing heart-healthy programs and resources for everyday Australians.

Please make a donation today, click the donate button. Every donation, big or small will help me get closer to my goal. All donations over $2 are tax deductible and you’ll get a receipt by email as soon as you make your donation.

Thank you for your support.