'I was in A&E every week - now I'm running a half'

Emily Brady had a heart condition which left her unable to be alone - but after treatment she is now running a half marathon

A woman who is recovering from a heart condition is running a half marathon to "reclaim her independence".

Emily Brady, 39, has lived with atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, which can cause the heart to beat more than 100 times a minute, since she was 18.

She said it "didn't really bother" her at first, but when she had a viral infection at the end of last year her health deteriorated and she had to go to A&E multiple times a week.

Now in recovery after undergoing multiple heart procedures, Ms Brady is set to take on the Cardiff Half Marathon later to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Ms Brady said she was able to manage the condition for years by avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and staying fit.

She also used the Valsalva manoeuvre, a breathing exercise performed while raising her legs in the air, to slow down her heart rate.

But in December last year, a bad cough meant she was unable to do the manoeuvre and her condition worsened.

"I started going into A&E once or twice a week - one day I went twice. I was there so often I was on first-name terms with the doctors."

Adenosine, a drug used to stabilise the heart rhythm, brought instant relief for Ms Brady but she said it created a crushing sensation which felt like "having a hippo sitting on your chest".

"It really took a toll on my physical and mental health," she said. "I had two months off work and couldn't be left alone."

'Lost'

Ms Brady said her normal life "came to a grinding halt" as she always wanted to be able to reach a hospital within half an hour.

"I felt like I'd lost who I was," she added.

She had a failed cardiac ablation - a minimally invasive procedure to destroy the tiny areas of heart tissue which cause abnormal electrical signals - in March before a second, successful attempt at that procedure in April.

"It eliminated the palpitations – though I still get some tachycardia [a heart rate over 100 beats per minute]," she explained. "But I can run again, and that's huge."

"Running was part of how I looked after myself," she added. "I wanted to get back to it."

Ms Brady said taking on the half marathon is about more than fitness.

"This run is about reclaiming my independence and supporting the charity that helped me when I needed it most," she added.