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Woo-Whoo! National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day Is Today!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: February 22, 2021

If you didn't know... Today is National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day!

This is a special day to raise awareness to the very under-diagnosed, the very under-treated, and the very deadly form of heart disease!

Why Raise Awareness to Heart Valve Disease?

In medical circles, heart valve disease is often referred to as "insidious" and the "silent killer". For me, those descriptors alone are a call-to-action for more awareness to this debilitating disease that can cause symptoms (shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, palpitations, leg swelling), heart failure and death.

Consider these facts about heart valve disease:

30% of Americans over the age of 65 do not know what heart valve disease is.
10% of people ages 75 and older have moderate to severe heart valve disease.
25,000 people die each year from valvular disorders.

Uggh!

Double Uggh!

Triple Uggh!

The "Good News" About Valvular Heart Disorders

There's not just "good news" about valvular heart disease. Nope. There's "great news" about heart valve disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

As I personally know (considering that I had open-heart surgery due to severe aortic stenosis), the "great news" about heart valve disease is that it can be successfully treated in patients of all ages.

Here are several patients from the HeartValveSurgery.com community that had a successful heart valve repair and/or a heart valve replacement operation.

National-Heart-Valve-Disease-Awareness-Day

Heart Valve Day Patient Spotlight: Donna's Tragedy to TAVR Triumph During COVID-19

There's no doubt that this Heart Valve Day is different.

COVID-19 has disrupted so much of our lives including the management and care of heart valve disease.

Given the concerns of a potential COVID-19 infection, many patients are delaying regular checkups and procedures. Unfortunately, this has led to unwanted heart health emergencies including heart attacks and strokes. (Read "Managing Heart Valve Disease Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic".)

It should be known, however, that many patients are getting excellent care during the pandemic. For example, Donna Hartley has struggled with health challenges her entire life - malnourishment, heart disease, a plane crash, cancer and then... more heart disease. In this video, Donna shares her extraordinary journey to a healthy heart that included surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and a Medtronic transcatheter aortic valve re-replacement (TAVR) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Community Is Ready To Help You!

If there is one thing I've experienced and learned about heart valve disease - after speaking with thousands of patients since starting HeartValveSurgery.com in 2006 - it is the prevalent patient feeling of "loneliness" associated with this disease. Since there is so little awareness to this disorder, valvular heart disease can isolate patients and the people who love them.

For this reason, I am here to tell you… You are not alone.

Let me repeat... You are not alone.

The reason I started this website was to educate, to empower and to connect patients. During the past 15 years, HeartValveSurgery.com has had over 10 million website visits. Our Facebook page has over 330,000 members all over the world. Yes, our community is here to support you!

Again, you are not alone!

That said, here are links to several resources across HeartValveSurgery.com that can help you right now:

If you don't find what you're looking for… My email address is adam@heartvalvesurgery.com. Feel free to email me any questions. I'm here to help you or your loved one.

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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