From heart surgeries to 50km challenge
Published: 28 January 2025
Despite undergoing two open-heart surgeries as a child, Aleisha has remained active and recently completed a 50km challenge for the Heart Foundation. Now she is supporting the Big Heart Appeal to ensure others with heart conditions can lead full, healthy lives.
Aleisha’s heart journey began before she could even understand it. At just 10 weeks old, she underwent her first open-heart surgery after being diagnosed with stenosis – a condition that causes the narrowing of valves on both sides of the heart, affecting both her pulmonary and aortic valves.
“I was obviously too young to remember,” she says. “But I’ve been told about it by my parents and relatives, who said it was to repair faulty valves.”
Now 27 years old, Aleisha is telling her story to highlight the incredible work undertaken by the surgeons that was possible because of innovative heart research, funded by the Heart Foundation every year.
“My heart condition is probably congenital,” she says. “My dad, brother, and aunt also have heart conditions, although only my aunt has had an operation like I did.”
By the time she was five years old, Aleisha had her second open-heart surgery. Though the memories are fuzzy, she distinctly recalls her uncle visiting and being pushed in a wheelchair down the hospital corridor.
“I was going to see a cardiologist every six months for checkups at that point, as I was so high risk,” she says. “So, they must have found a problem and had to repair it again.
"I’ve lived with this condition my whole life, but I never let it define me or hold me back,” she says. “Sometimes I can get a bit out of breath and maybe I couldn’t quite keep up with the other kids, but it was nothing major that I let get in the way.”
While doctors predicted that Aleisha would need more surgeries throughout her childhood, her heart has been stable, sparing her from further operations. However, she still travels to Christchurch every year for regular check-ups, where she remains deeply grateful for the cardiologists and surgeons who have cared for her over the years.
"I’m so thankful for the surgeons and cardiologists who’ve looked after me all these years – they’ve given me the chance to live a full and active life."
Aleisha has built a rewarding life in Nelson, where she moved four years ago. Working as a kaiāwhina whare (support worker), she finds immense satisfaction in helping others. In her free time, she plays competitive netball every Saturday, a sport she has loved and participated in for years.
In 2018, she ran 12km in the Auckland Marathon. More recently, she took on a challenge as part of the MyMarathon 2024 event, running an impressive 50km throughout the month of May around the parks of Nelson to support the Heart Foundation.
“I managed to raise $600 for the cause, averaging about 6km per session,” she says. “Long-distance running can be difficult,” she admits, “as I often get breathless and need to slow down to catch my breath, but that doesn’t stop me from pushing myself.”
Aleisha is very positive about the future and plans to do even more to raise awareness for those living with a heart condition, like herself.
“Just don’t let it hold you back,” she says. “Just because you have a heart condition, it doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to work around it. I don’t let it stop me – there’s always a way to keep going, to find a way around the challenges.
"Supporting the Heart Foundation is personal for me – it’s about giving others the same opportunities I’ve had to live a healthy, happy life.
“Donating to the Big Heart Appeal will help so many families like ours. It means a lot to all of us," she says. "Continuing research and funding is so important so others can live good, healthy lives just like I have."