“We’re still searching for answers and trying to understand if more could have been done earlier to help Jo”
At just 29 years-of-age, Joanne McKenna had a cardiac arrest when on holiday in Toronto, Canada with friends.
The quick actions of a hotel security guard on that day 19 years ago managed to save her life when he called the emergency services, performed CPR and accessed a defibrillator.
Joanne, who was living in Dublin at the time and working for a bank, was put into an induced coma in Toronto and had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted, a small electrical device that can treat people with dangerously abnormal fast heart rhythms.
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Medical professionals in Canada and then in Dublin, where the Co Down woman was transferred to, undertook investigations to understand what might have caused Joanne’s cardiac arrest, as she was fit and healthy with no prior health issues or family history, other than a few minor fainting episodes.
Joanne’s eldest sister Sharon Hare said: “After Canada, Jo’s life changed. It was such a shock that this happened to her when she was a young woman in her twenties enjoying life. It really knocked her confidence and she became fearful to go out and enjoy herself without close trusted friends or family.”
Joanne and her parents underwent genetic testing in Belfast while her siblings were tested to check for underlying heart conditions. Her parents and siblings were subsequently given the all- clear, while Joanne was eventually given a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
DCM is a disease of your heart muscle which enlarges your heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle), causing your heart’s muscle wall to stretch and become thin (dilate). This makes it harder for your heart to pump blood out of your heart and around your body.
Joanne was given medication and over the next number of years she regularly had review appointments and treatments including ablation therapy. This is a procedure to treat abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) by destroying the heart tissue that triggers the irregular heartbeat.
Sadly, Joanne, despite the best efforts of medical professionals, passed away from heart failure.
Now, Joanne’s eldest sister Sharon Hare, and youngest sister Kathy Murray are sharing Joanne’s story ahead of World Heart Day on Monday September 29, to highlight the urgent reality of cardiovascular deaths and shocking statistics of the rise of deaths in working age adults in the UK.
Sharon said: “Joanne was the middle sister, between the two of us and our brother and she was the glue in our family. I spoke to her every day and Jo was not just our sister but our best friend. She was such a kind person and her life revolved around all of us and her wonderful friendships of her four best friends which she had from school right through to her adult life.”
Kathy added: “Although she never had the opportunity to have children of her own, she was a second mum to our kids and spoilt them rotten. She loved her job and travelling, but her cardiac arrest and subsequent diagnosis took its toll on her.
“It really knocked her confidence. She was nervous to go out alone afterwards in case the ICD went off and it also made her fearful of starting new relationships.”
Over the years Joanne had several “episodes” with her ICD shocking her, and her medication being adjusted, but she had found a way of coping with it. Then at Halloween 2023, Kathy said “everything changed”.
Kathy said: “Jo was out at the pharmacy and on her way back home, when her ICD shocked her and she collapsed. Luckily someone came to her aid and she was taken to hospital due to a head injury. She was in hospital for two weeks and had everything reviewed and her medication changed. We all thought it was best then for her to stay at our parents’ house in Holywood while she adjusted to the new medication.
“However she never really improved. She was really breathless and couldn’t walk very far and then again, in December she collapsed while in a Belfast shopping centre.”
Sharon describes how having realised the deterioration of Joanne’s health and her recovery time after her ICD shocking her had increased, she insisted on accompanying Joanne to her next review appointment in January 2024. It was then that Sharon and Joanne received the shocking news that Joanne was in stage four heart failure and the medication had been the last option.
Sharon said: “The consultant said her only option now was a heart transplant.”
Sadly, after three weeks of intense testing and finally being put on the transplant waiting list, Joanne’s name had to be removed after only 10 days as she would have been too sick to receive a heart.
Joanne was to remain in hospital until tragically, she died of heart failure on February 21 st 2024, aged just 46.
Sharon said: “We were devastated that the strong centre of our family was gone. Although we knew about Joanne’s diagnosis for several years, it was only in the last few months that we really understood the devastation heart disease can cause.”
Kathy added: “We’re still searching for answers and trying to understand if more could have been done earlier to help Jo. She wasn’t someone who wanted a fuss and didn’t want to be a burden.”
Sharon said: “We didn’t understand the urgency of heart disease. The heart is a muscle and you don’t realise it can get to the stage of being so weakened that it won’t work.”
Sharon, Kathy and several members of their family took part in the Belfast marathon relay in May to raise funds for British Heart Foundation (BHF) and just last week in Joanne’s name, Sharon and her husband ran the Belfast City Half Marathon for BHF.
Sharon said: “When my husband Martin and I lined up for the event on September 21st, it was exactly 19 months since Jo’s passing. There isn’t a day as a family where we don’t laugh about her, cry about her and miss her deeply.
“But the running has brought us all closer together and I want people to understand that heart disease isn’t something that just affects people of a certain age. Jo was young, fit and healthy when she first had an issue with her heart and at a time when she should have been living life to the full, she had to adjust to living with a heart condition, which ultimately cruelly robbed her of fulfilling all of her dreams.”
Sharon and Kathy added: “We as a family want to help raise awareness of the impact of heart disease and support BHF’s vital research to find better treatments and cures, to help other families be with their loved ones for longer.”
Sharon and family have raised over £4,500 for BHF by taking part in the Belfast Marathon relay event in May and the Belfast City Half Marathon in September. To support them, visit here.
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