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Christina knows more than most how heart disease can affect anyone

Throughout her life, heart disease has impacted Christina in more ways than one. After tragically losing her first husband to a cardiac arrest and witnessing her current husband have a heart attack, her goal is to raise life-saving heart health awareness.

One evening in 1983, Christina’s husband came home complaining of pain in his arms.

“He was fit and lean, you would never look at him and think he’d be at risk of heart problems,” she recalls. “He didn’t say anything about pain in his chest.”

Thinking nothing of it, the couple went to bed that night. It was at around two o’clock in the morning when Christina woke to her husband making strange noises.

“He sometimes did that in the night, made noises or snored,” she explains. “I thought it would stop, but when it didn’t, I knew something was wrong.” 

She tried to rouse him gently, thinking it would settle him, but he ‘didn’t feel right’. She quickly turned the light on and realised he was having a heart attack. 

“I got him out of the bed and put him on the floor to begin CPR,” Christina continues. “One of our children called out to see if everything was okay, and I didn’t want to scare them. I just said that Dad was feeling a bit sick.” 

Soon after, she ran to the telephone and called their doctor. When the doctor arrived, he told Christina to call the ambulance right away.

“I should have called the ambulance first, but I didn’t think it through. You should always call 111,” she says. “So, I did what my doctor told me and called it then, but sadly, my husband didn’t recover.” 

Because he was just 38, Christina had no reason to expect her husband would be suffering from a cardiac arrest – but the horrifying experience would later help her in recognising when another loved one was struck by a heart attack. 

“I was only 32 when my first husband died, so after a few years, I remarried to my current husband,” she says. 

One afternoon, she returned early from work, and he told her he was experiencing stomach pains.

“I offered him this and that, paracetamol etcetera,” she says. “But he didn’t want anything. He just said he’d go to bed, so we did. Later, he was up again, and he was still in pain, so I said we needed to go to the hospital. Halfway there, I just thought ‘I hope he’s not having a heart attack’.” 

It turns out that Christina's worry was warranted – he was indeed having a heart attack. He was urgently flown to Wellington hospital to receive an angiogram and angioplasty. 

Thankfully, he recovered well. 

That wasn’t the end for Christina, however. In 2021, she was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation – a heart rhythm disorder. 

“I used to be a runner and for the longest time, my atrial fibrillation went under the radar,” she explains. “I used to get an erratic heartbeat but didn’t think much of it. It was until I started to take up tramping with a group that everything came to a head.

“I’d joked that I was going to end up with a pacemaker. Then on one tramp, the symptoms started getting much worse. I felt awful, then I vomited, and it all went to custard.” 

Conscious of her risk, Christina has chosen to explore other types of exercise as she doesn’t want to put herself or her tramping group at risk. 

“I now exercise closer to home, and I keep track of my heart rate on my smartwatch,” she explains. “My husband always knows where I am, just in case.” 

Sadly, she has also had to avoid swimming in the sea during the colder months, something she loved to do. 

“I had started to feel symptoms coming in and out of the cold water,” she says. “So, I’ll have to hold off until the weather warms up. Otherwise, my atrial fibrillation is easy to manage.” 

Christina generously took part in MyMarathon in 2024 to help raise funds for life-saving heart research. She is particularly engaged in sharing her story in the Big Heart Appeal because she knows that it could one day help save lives. 

“Talking about what has happened to me can help educate people,” she says. “Especially those who don’t know the signs. I didn’t know the signs when it came to my first husband’s cardiac arrest.

“The funds raised also help support education for New Zealand heart professionals and improve treatment for those living with heart disease. It’s an important cause that’s close to my heart.”