My Family's Heart History

Buckle up for a wild ride of heart conditions history.

I recently had to go through my entire family medical history with my new cardiologist here in Wisconsin, so I thought I would share it with this community as a way to identify how important genetics can be in determining what heart conditions you could have or are predisposed to.

Life before and after a heart transplant

Starting on my mother's side, my maternal uncle has unfortunately had the most severe heart conditions. He had to have a total heart transplant in 2015 because of progressing congestive heart failure combined with a rare fungal infection.

My uncle was well known for buying burgers regularly and asking for extra salt packets so that he could put those salt packets on burgers. At the time, the heart transplant list was incredibly long, so it was unlikely he would receive a new heart for a few months; however, a perfect match was found a week later, and his transplant was scheduled at Emory University.

Since his heart transplant, he has been doing better and is continuing to live a normal life post-operation; but, it is my understanding that he will always be immunocompromised now with the rejection medicines that he has to take. It was a very difficult time for him.

A mitral valve replacement

My mother also recently had some more severe heart problems. She had to have her mitral valve repaired and then replaced after having a root canal and not being prescribed antibiotics prior to the root canal. At one point, my mom experienced sepsis and had to receive IV antibiotics to alleviate the infection.

Thankfully, the valve replacement surgery went well, and she has also been living a relatively normal life. She has been walking more every day to improve her heart health since the replacement.

Since then, she has had to go to the cardiologist regularly to make sure the mitral valve is functioning correctly — which it is.

A history of high cholesterol on both sides

Finally, my mother, aunt, and grandmother also all have high cholesterol (as do I), and my grandmother has high blood pressure. Thankfully, I seem to have avoided the high blood pressure, for which I'm very thankful for. I'm not aware of anyone else on my mother's side with additional heart issues.

On my dad's side, my understanding is that he also has high cholesterol. His mother's side of the family also all had congestive heart failure.

My paternal uncle even died suddenly from a heart attack. It was revealed during his autopsy that he also had congestive heart failure. My paternal grandfather's side of the family does not have any heart issues as far as I'm aware.

An important reminder

Clearly, heart troubles run in both sides of my family.

With some heart conditions already manifesting for me — thankfully, not heart disease or heart failure — this recollection of my family history is an important reminder for me to take better care of my heart and my health in general.

My hope is that me providing this history can also influence the community to realize how influential genetics can be.