WHAT started as a usual day at work soon turned into a fight for her life for Mount Gambier resident Kate McDonough.
Around 18 months ago, the South East mother was working at the Mount Gambier Hospital when her life was all of a sudden turned upside down.
Still trying to piece together the events of the day, Ms McDonough said she is lucky to be alive.
“I remember it was a Saturday morning, I started my cleaning shift at 5am and apparently around five hours later I went into the nurses station and told them I didn’t feel well, then all of a sudden I collapsed,” she said.
“They called a code blue and took me to resus and thankfully for some reason a doctor suggested they take a CT scan.”
What they found was a shockingly bad aortic dissection which without the scan would never have been detected.
While Ms McDonough’s heart was in perfect condition, the inner layer of the aorta, the large blood vessel branching off the heart, had torn.
Relatively uncommon, the condition is serious and in many cases misdiagnosed.
Thankfully Ms McDonough’s problem was diagnosed early, however the journey to recovery has been long, tiring and emotionally draining for not only herself, but her friends and family as well.
“As soon as they realised how extensive mine was I was taken to Flinders Medical Centre by the Royal Flying Doctor Service,” she said.
“My blood was cooled down to prevent any further damage, my ribs were broken open and I underwent open heart surgery.”
Also hit by a bilateral stroke and brain haemorrhage, Ms McDonough was placed in a coma for two weeks and in the intensive care unit for four weeks.
“I was very confused when I first woke up, I couldn’t talk and my mind wasn’t working,” she said.
“My first memory is of my right arm and leg being tied to the bed – I couldn’t control the movements and they had to keep me still so I wouldn’t cause any more damage.
“I had a lot of panic attacks in hospital and when I tried to write on a board the letters just wouldn’t come out right.”
Now looking a picture of health, Ms McDonough said it was hard for people to understand just how serious an aortic dissection is.
“When my husband went to the hospital to visit me the doctors told him they had ruled out a heart attack and at first he was relieved, but then he found out the aortic dissection was much worse,” she said.
“It was hard for him, he didn’t know if I would remember who he was and how much of me would come back.”
Searching for answers, Ms McDonough said they are still unsure why it had happened and sadly they may never know.
“I am on so many pills to keep my blood pressure and cholesterol down and I’m constantly worried whenever I feel a pain that I should be running to the hospital,” she said.
However, thankfully Ms McDonough has sort comfort in a budding friendship with another local woman, Ann Pegler, who has also been struck with the condition.
“We knew each other before it all happened, but neither of us knew what the other one had been through until one day when we were chatting on Facebook,” Ms McDonough said.
Bonding over their experiences, the pair are now hoping to start a support group for other people who have suffered with the condition.
“Everybody handles things differently, I tend to have a bit of a joke about it, but I am really pleased I found Kate because there aren’t any support groups around this area,” Ms Pegler said.
“We just want to tell people we are here and this is what we have been through.”
In conjunction with Aortic Dissection Awareness Day, which was held yesterday, Ms McDonough and Ms Pegler are extending an invitation to other survivors to meet with them for a chat at Metro Bakery tomorrow.
“You never stop thinking about it, but you just have to be careful with what you do,” Ms McDonough said.
“We have to live life, it is still a part of us, but it doesn’t define us.
“For anyone else out there who has suffered with an aortic dissection, we encourage you to tell your story, focus on what you can do and find somebody you can confide in.”
Ms McDonough and Ms Pegler will be at Metro Bakery from 2pm tomorrow for anyone who wishes to join them.
