Mel's campaign for NHS & British Heart Foundation
Donation protected
2020 has been one heck of a year for all of us. It is is the year I survived endocarditis (a rare bacterial heart infection), open heart surgery, a stroke and open brain surgery in the midst of a global pandemic. It’s been by far my most challenging year but at the same time, I’ve never felt more grateful, lucky and appreciative of life. I now have a new lease on life and it’s bloody brilliant!
Endocarditis is incredibly rare. Being a young and healthy person contracting it was even more rare and just goes to show it can happen to anyone.
All donations from this fundraiser will go towards 2 charities (split equally): The British Heart Foundation so that medical research continues to help others with heart disease. And the other half will go toward the NHS, UK’s National Health Service contributing to the medical professionals who undoubtedly saved my life and do the most incredible and brave job day in, day out. They looked after me and this is my way of trying to say thank you. They are the real heroes.
In the spirit of Christmas and giving, I hope you can support me in this great cause. £10, £25, £50 or whatever you can!
Your kindness and generosity will be HUGELY appreciated!
Much love,
Mel
Read my full story below
It was 3am on the 28th June 2020 in London when I was woken up by an alarmingly racing heart. It was beating at what felt like a million miles per hour and felt like my chest was about to burst. I held my hand over my heart and I knew right away something wasn’t right.
Kevin and I rushed to the emergency room and over the next few hours they ran a series of tests. The younger doctors and nurses were so intrigued at my case that they stayed past their shift hoping to find out my diagnosis only to be told to go home by the senior doctors at 5am! Being a young, healthy and able person with no previous medical history, this heart issue left everyone perplexed, especially while the world was struggling with COVID-19. Shortly after, I was told I had contracted a rare bacterial heart infection called endocarditis and that it was at a life-threatening stage. It had caused a dangerous leak in one of the valves of my heart which meant that blood was not pumping in and out successfully which could be incredibly dangerous. I needed a heart valve replacement immediately otherwise my heart could fail at any time. When they told me the news I was in complete shock and felt my entire body go numb. To make matters worse, I was completely alone – my family was in Sydney and Kevin wasn’t allowed into the hospital at all with COVID-19 restrictions in place.
I wept uncontrollably as I tried to digest what the doctor was saying. Thoughts and disbelief raced through my mind: ‘Heart infection? Life threatening? Surgery? Not me surely, I’ve felt unwell for the past few weeks but it couldn’t possibly be this serious. I am only 30 and have no prior health conditions. How could this be? I was fine, fit, and healthy just a few weeks ago, travelling from one country to the next, enjoying the European experience I had planned’.
My condition meant I had to go into open-heart surgery the next day to replace my leaking valve and then complete a 6-week antibiotic treatment plan to fight the infection. Thankfully after 6 hours, the surgery went well and the valve was successfully replaced. I was lucky enough to be in the hands of one of the most specialized heart surgeons in Europe. Whilst the procedure went well, my heart went into an abnormal and irregular rhythm called atrial flutter where it doesn’t beat at regular rhythm. This can be serious but also manageable. I woke up from surgery in ICU and was shocked and scared to see so many tubes and bandages on my body.
Just as we thought the biggest hurdle was behind us, 7 days into my open-heart surgery recovery the most feared happened. The infection travelled to another critical organ: my brain. I do not have any memory of what happened but was told it caused serious bleeding in my brain which meant I had a form of a stroke. My brain was swelling from the bleeding and it needed to be quickly relieved from all the pressure. I had an emergency craniotomy which involved removing about 1/3 of my skull to help relieve the pressure and I was placed in a medically induced coma. The surgery had gone as well as it could have but I wasn’t in the clear yet, it was now a fight for survival. There was no way of telling how successful the surgery was until I woke up..if I was to wake up at all. At this stage, Kevin and my family were told to prepare for the worst. And even if I woke up, the doctors advised that deficiencies were expected from stroke survivors and this could include cognitive, memory, physical and speech deficiencies, just to name a few.
2 days after my open brain surgery the neurological team decided to ease me off sedation to see how and if I would respond. Thankfully, I did respond and was able to answer questions by moving my head and squeezing the nurse’s hand. Over several days, I started to slowly regain movement in more parts of my body starting with my left hand then left leg, right hand and eventually my right leg. It was a massive relief to be able to move all four limbs (although very very weakly) but it was a major victory! My body had gone through so much trauma that I was bed ridden for a few weeks before I could stand up on my own.
I had no idea that I would require assistance to do normal things like stand, walk, bath and dress myself, that there was a moment where I tried to get out of bed to go to the toilet and as soon as I took a step out of bed, I fell to the floor. Luckily, I did not injure myself from the fall, especially with a part of my skull missing it could have been an unnecessary and serious brain injury!! I felt so helpless and defeated mentally and physically. Being stripped of independence was foreign and tormenting and it was hard to stay positive. The medical team decided to give me a fashionable helmet to wear for about 3 months until my follow up surgery to replace my missing skull piece. Who would have thought that I had to learn how to balance and walk again?! My coordination was off and a simple thing like typing a text message was incredibly irritable as I kept making errors. It was infuriating that I couldn’t do a simple task that once was second nature to me. I was unable to face myself in the mirror for a while, lost about 7 kgs and felt intensely weak. I was too scared to face my new battle scars (from open heart surgery) and shaved head (from open brain surgery). My long hair, a piece of my womanhood was gone. The scars are still something I am working on embracing to this day.
I had physiotherapy daily and worked on my balance, coordination, and strength. I was progressing well and fast. The antibiotics treating the infection were working and my 6-week treatment plan was coming to an end, but I still had one issue to tie up before being discharged which was my abnormal heart rhythm. It was time to get a pacemaker, the last hurdle before home. A pacemaker is a small device that is inserted into the chest by a small incision under the collarbone to help control abnormal heart rhythms. It was a routine and quick procedure that took about an hour and was completed successfully.
By this time, I had been in hospital for 2 months and saw many patients come and go. I knew most of the staff working the ward and they knew me, and I felt like a piece of the hospital furniture – I could not wait to leave. I was finally discharged with a plan to return in 3 months’ time for a cranioplasty surgery to replace the missing skull piece. Another major surgery with its own risks but one that was not as invasive as the first surgery. As I had been discharged with a piece of my skull missing, my brain was basically unprotected. All it took was one fall or accident to harm or cause bleeding to the brain. This meant I lived in fear for 3 months, impatiently waiting for the replacement piece which ironically was being manufactured in Australia! I refused to sleep near anything mobile in case it fell on me during my sleep. A walk in the park was not as simple and enjoyable as I was so worried a ball would hit my head or cyclist would run into me. I now take daily walks through the park and will never take it for granted again.
The nurses and doctors were calling my recovery miraculous and they are all so happy with my progress. I will be forever grateful to each and every medical team member who looked after me during the toughest months of my life, made those challenging phone calls to my family and ultimately helped me get back on my feet, giving me a second lease on life. The work that they do every single day is so incredibly amazing. Admittedly, I didn’t appreciate how good the NHS medical system here in the UK was until after going through the system and receiving the level of world class care I did. During the whole process, I have not received a single medical bill and won’t be, which is absolutely crazy. This is my way of trying to say thank you.
I am also beyond grateful for Kevin for visiting me every day while in hospital, keeping my spirits up and bringing me delicious home cooked meals prepared by our friends in London. It gave me something to look forward to everyday and I will be forever grateful to all of them. It brought me so much comfort, happiness and gave me the energy to fight. Kevin was actually the first ICU visitor at The Royal London Hospital since UK’s first lockdown in March but they still couldn’t allow regular visits. Once I moved out of ICU, our daily visits had to be outside, where the nurse would wheelchair me outside and let us spend lunch time together.
6 months on from that first night of being admitted into the emergency room, I am writing this in good health and spirits. I do daily walks and have even picked up tennis. I have almost all of memory leading up to the stroke which is unbelievably lucky. COVID aside, life has started to resume with me recently returning to work on a part time basis and even starting to travel out of London again (before the latest lockdown).
I feel extremely lucky to be surrounded by such a supportive network including my friends and family from Sydney and London, my boss and colleagues who have been nothing but supportive during my transition back to work and my greatest supporter, Kevin, who has been my eyes, ears, hands and everything in between during this whole journey. I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support and kindness!
Many have asked how I have coped with my traumatic experience and maintained a positive outlook. There are definitely bad days and as much as people tell you to ‘stay positive’, it’s much easier said than done. What I found to be a pivotal moment was a change in perspective on my situation.
I had to stop feeling sorry for myself, accept what was happening to and around me and focus on what I have and I can be grateful for. I no longer thought of myself as the poor girl who had a rare heart infection. Instead, I was the lucky girl with an infection that was able to be diagnosed. There are so many cases out there that go undiagnosed with no clear treatment plan in place but I was one of the lucky ones to have one. I was no longer the unlucky girl who also had a stroke just after heart surgery, but the lucky girl who had a stroke in hospital, surrounded by medical professionals who were quick to action an emergency surgery which saved my life (for the second time!). I have no doubt in my mind that I owe my miraculous recovery to them! I didn’t see myself as the girl who couldn’t leave hospital to travel the world like everyone else around me, but I counted my blessings to have all my limbs working so that I could continue to see the world.. one day. Many stroke survivors are not as lucky as me and would usually go through months of rehabilitation before they can regain strength, walk, or even speak again, depending on the stroke’s impact. It took me less than a month to walk on my own again which is not long at all after all the trauma my body has been through. To this day, I cannot say that I have my full health and strength back yet as I often fatigue, but it’s what I will continue to work on every day.
I think perspective makes the world of difference when you are in recovery or have had a life changing experience. This is what helped give me inner strength to get through it all. 2020 is the year I survived endocarditis and a stroke within a pandemic, and I am at peace with it.
I truly hope 2021 will be a better year for all of us.
Endocarditis is incredibly rare. Being a young and healthy person contracting it was even more rare and just goes to show it can happen to anyone.
All donations from this fundraiser will go towards 2 charities (split equally): The British Heart Foundation so that medical research continues to help others with heart disease. And the other half will go toward the NHS, UK’s National Health Service contributing to the medical professionals who undoubtedly saved my life and do the most incredible and brave job day in, day out. They looked after me and this is my way of trying to say thank you. They are the real heroes.
In the spirit of Christmas and giving, I hope you can support me in this great cause. £10, £25, £50 or whatever you can!
Your kindness and generosity will be HUGELY appreciated!
Much love,
Mel
Read my full story below
It was 3am on the 28th June 2020 in London when I was woken up by an alarmingly racing heart. It was beating at what felt like a million miles per hour and felt like my chest was about to burst. I held my hand over my heart and I knew right away something wasn’t right.
Kevin and I rushed to the emergency room and over the next few hours they ran a series of tests. The younger doctors and nurses were so intrigued at my case that they stayed past their shift hoping to find out my diagnosis only to be told to go home by the senior doctors at 5am! Being a young, healthy and able person with no previous medical history, this heart issue left everyone perplexed, especially while the world was struggling with COVID-19. Shortly after, I was told I had contracted a rare bacterial heart infection called endocarditis and that it was at a life-threatening stage. It had caused a dangerous leak in one of the valves of my heart which meant that blood was not pumping in and out successfully which could be incredibly dangerous. I needed a heart valve replacement immediately otherwise my heart could fail at any time. When they told me the news I was in complete shock and felt my entire body go numb. To make matters worse, I was completely alone – my family was in Sydney and Kevin wasn’t allowed into the hospital at all with COVID-19 restrictions in place.
I wept uncontrollably as I tried to digest what the doctor was saying. Thoughts and disbelief raced through my mind: ‘Heart infection? Life threatening? Surgery? Not me surely, I’ve felt unwell for the past few weeks but it couldn’t possibly be this serious. I am only 30 and have no prior health conditions. How could this be? I was fine, fit, and healthy just a few weeks ago, travelling from one country to the next, enjoying the European experience I had planned’.
My condition meant I had to go into open-heart surgery the next day to replace my leaking valve and then complete a 6-week antibiotic treatment plan to fight the infection. Thankfully after 6 hours, the surgery went well and the valve was successfully replaced. I was lucky enough to be in the hands of one of the most specialized heart surgeons in Europe. Whilst the procedure went well, my heart went into an abnormal and irregular rhythm called atrial flutter where it doesn’t beat at regular rhythm. This can be serious but also manageable. I woke up from surgery in ICU and was shocked and scared to see so many tubes and bandages on my body.
Just as we thought the biggest hurdle was behind us, 7 days into my open-heart surgery recovery the most feared happened. The infection travelled to another critical organ: my brain. I do not have any memory of what happened but was told it caused serious bleeding in my brain which meant I had a form of a stroke. My brain was swelling from the bleeding and it needed to be quickly relieved from all the pressure. I had an emergency craniotomy which involved removing about 1/3 of my skull to help relieve the pressure and I was placed in a medically induced coma. The surgery had gone as well as it could have but I wasn’t in the clear yet, it was now a fight for survival. There was no way of telling how successful the surgery was until I woke up..if I was to wake up at all. At this stage, Kevin and my family were told to prepare for the worst. And even if I woke up, the doctors advised that deficiencies were expected from stroke survivors and this could include cognitive, memory, physical and speech deficiencies, just to name a few.
2 days after my open brain surgery the neurological team decided to ease me off sedation to see how and if I would respond. Thankfully, I did respond and was able to answer questions by moving my head and squeezing the nurse’s hand. Over several days, I started to slowly regain movement in more parts of my body starting with my left hand then left leg, right hand and eventually my right leg. It was a massive relief to be able to move all four limbs (although very very weakly) but it was a major victory! My body had gone through so much trauma that I was bed ridden for a few weeks before I could stand up on my own.
I had no idea that I would require assistance to do normal things like stand, walk, bath and dress myself, that there was a moment where I tried to get out of bed to go to the toilet and as soon as I took a step out of bed, I fell to the floor. Luckily, I did not injure myself from the fall, especially with a part of my skull missing it could have been an unnecessary and serious brain injury!! I felt so helpless and defeated mentally and physically. Being stripped of independence was foreign and tormenting and it was hard to stay positive. The medical team decided to give me a fashionable helmet to wear for about 3 months until my follow up surgery to replace my missing skull piece. Who would have thought that I had to learn how to balance and walk again?! My coordination was off and a simple thing like typing a text message was incredibly irritable as I kept making errors. It was infuriating that I couldn’t do a simple task that once was second nature to me. I was unable to face myself in the mirror for a while, lost about 7 kgs and felt intensely weak. I was too scared to face my new battle scars (from open heart surgery) and shaved head (from open brain surgery). My long hair, a piece of my womanhood was gone. The scars are still something I am working on embracing to this day.
I had physiotherapy daily and worked on my balance, coordination, and strength. I was progressing well and fast. The antibiotics treating the infection were working and my 6-week treatment plan was coming to an end, but I still had one issue to tie up before being discharged which was my abnormal heart rhythm. It was time to get a pacemaker, the last hurdle before home. A pacemaker is a small device that is inserted into the chest by a small incision under the collarbone to help control abnormal heart rhythms. It was a routine and quick procedure that took about an hour and was completed successfully.
By this time, I had been in hospital for 2 months and saw many patients come and go. I knew most of the staff working the ward and they knew me, and I felt like a piece of the hospital furniture – I could not wait to leave. I was finally discharged with a plan to return in 3 months’ time for a cranioplasty surgery to replace the missing skull piece. Another major surgery with its own risks but one that was not as invasive as the first surgery. As I had been discharged with a piece of my skull missing, my brain was basically unprotected. All it took was one fall or accident to harm or cause bleeding to the brain. This meant I lived in fear for 3 months, impatiently waiting for the replacement piece which ironically was being manufactured in Australia! I refused to sleep near anything mobile in case it fell on me during my sleep. A walk in the park was not as simple and enjoyable as I was so worried a ball would hit my head or cyclist would run into me. I now take daily walks through the park and will never take it for granted again.
The nurses and doctors were calling my recovery miraculous and they are all so happy with my progress. I will be forever grateful to each and every medical team member who looked after me during the toughest months of my life, made those challenging phone calls to my family and ultimately helped me get back on my feet, giving me a second lease on life. The work that they do every single day is so incredibly amazing. Admittedly, I didn’t appreciate how good the NHS medical system here in the UK was until after going through the system and receiving the level of world class care I did. During the whole process, I have not received a single medical bill and won’t be, which is absolutely crazy. This is my way of trying to say thank you.
I am also beyond grateful for Kevin for visiting me every day while in hospital, keeping my spirits up and bringing me delicious home cooked meals prepared by our friends in London. It gave me something to look forward to everyday and I will be forever grateful to all of them. It brought me so much comfort, happiness and gave me the energy to fight. Kevin was actually the first ICU visitor at The Royal London Hospital since UK’s first lockdown in March but they still couldn’t allow regular visits. Once I moved out of ICU, our daily visits had to be outside, where the nurse would wheelchair me outside and let us spend lunch time together.
6 months on from that first night of being admitted into the emergency room, I am writing this in good health and spirits. I do daily walks and have even picked up tennis. I have almost all of memory leading up to the stroke which is unbelievably lucky. COVID aside, life has started to resume with me recently returning to work on a part time basis and even starting to travel out of London again (before the latest lockdown).
I feel extremely lucky to be surrounded by such a supportive network including my friends and family from Sydney and London, my boss and colleagues who have been nothing but supportive during my transition back to work and my greatest supporter, Kevin, who has been my eyes, ears, hands and everything in between during this whole journey. I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support and kindness!
Many have asked how I have coped with my traumatic experience and maintained a positive outlook. There are definitely bad days and as much as people tell you to ‘stay positive’, it’s much easier said than done. What I found to be a pivotal moment was a change in perspective on my situation.
I had to stop feeling sorry for myself, accept what was happening to and around me and focus on what I have and I can be grateful for. I no longer thought of myself as the poor girl who had a rare heart infection. Instead, I was the lucky girl with an infection that was able to be diagnosed. There are so many cases out there that go undiagnosed with no clear treatment plan in place but I was one of the lucky ones to have one. I was no longer the unlucky girl who also had a stroke just after heart surgery, but the lucky girl who had a stroke in hospital, surrounded by medical professionals who were quick to action an emergency surgery which saved my life (for the second time!). I have no doubt in my mind that I owe my miraculous recovery to them! I didn’t see myself as the girl who couldn’t leave hospital to travel the world like everyone else around me, but I counted my blessings to have all my limbs working so that I could continue to see the world.. one day. Many stroke survivors are not as lucky as me and would usually go through months of rehabilitation before they can regain strength, walk, or even speak again, depending on the stroke’s impact. It took me less than a month to walk on my own again which is not long at all after all the trauma my body has been through. To this day, I cannot say that I have my full health and strength back yet as I often fatigue, but it’s what I will continue to work on every day.
I think perspective makes the world of difference when you are in recovery or have had a life changing experience. This is what helped give me inner strength to get through it all. 2020 is the year I survived endocarditis and a stroke within a pandemic, and I am at peace with it.
I truly hope 2021 will be a better year for all of us.
Organizer
Melissa Lek
Organizer
