ROBYN’S LIFE “The combination of the severity of her illness, its rarity, the positive outcome, and the way we all worked together so well as a team all stood out for me.”
as SCAD. SCAD is an extremely rare and potentially fatal occurrence; Robyn had a rare presentation of a rare disease. Northampton emergency medicine consultant Dr Tom Odbert said: “Robyn was extremely lucky to be in hospital when she collapsed where she had immediate, aggressive and determined resuscitation, and a transfer to a heart attack centre promptly for definitive treatment. “The combination of the severity of her illness, its rarity, the positive outcome, and the way we all worked together so well as a team all stood out for me. Getting the chance to meet up with her and her family afterwards was a privilege that we do not often get in emergency medicine.”
SCAD factfile
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare type of heart attack. SCAD affects women more than men – 80 percent of SCAD patients are women. Very little is known about why but it’s thought to be linked to hormonal flux in the body. Many patients are young and fit with no risk factors for heart disease, so symptoms can often be mistaken for other things such as indigestion or anxiety. SCAD patients experience different symptoms but the most common are: Central chest pain or pressure Pain or numbness in one or both arms Jaw pain Back pain Shoulder pain Nausea Sweating/clamminess Difficulty breathing
Karen and her consultant Dr Alan Ogilvie pictured when she returned from winning four golds and a silver in the World Transplant Games earlier this year
Charity and support group set up by Northampton SCAD survivor Another NGH patient, 62 year old Karen Rockell launched the charity Beat SCAD with two other SCAD survivors, to raise awareness of this rare type of heart attack and fundraise for greater research. They also set up an online support community for SCAD survivors. Karen was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease Autoimmune Hepatitis, also known as AIH, two decades ago. She said: “The swift treatment I received from Dr Ogilvie in Northampton saved my life; he diagnosed my condition when it was almost unheard of. AIH cannot be cured and after fighting the disease for over ten years, I developed liver cancer. I underwent a successful liver transplant in October 2010 at Kings College Hospital and it was shortly after that I had suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection.” Karen was motivated to set up the Beat SCAD charity in response to the lack of information which sometimes led to missed opportunities to save lives. “The typical SCAD patient is not somebody who would be considered at risk of a heart
attack,” she explained. “Since I retired, I’ve devoted my time to working with health professionals especially first responders and maternity services to help them recognise the symptoms.” Karen’s other passion is raising awareness of organ donation. This year, she represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland in swimming at the 21st World Transplant Games held in Spain. Karen’s medal haul was four gold and one silver in the 60-69 age category – and she set a new world record for the transplant games in 50 metres freestyle event. 100 metre freestyle gold 5 0 metre freestyle gold and a new world record. 100 metre backstroke gold 50 metre backstroke gold 200 metre freestyle silver More information about Karen’s charity can be found at www.beatscad.org.uk
Insight ❘ 5