Caoimhe uses cardiac journey as positive to encourage others

Caoimhe Loughran, from Newry, was fit and active throughout her youth, playing Gaelic football to county standard.

But aged 17, she started suffering from exhaustion and a fast heart rate. When the symptoms became more pronounced and she suffered numerous collapses, Caoimhe was fitted with an Implantable Loop Recorder, which detected pauses in her heart rhythm.

After experiencing episodes in her sleep, Caoimhe was then fitted with a pacemaker and spent 13 days in hospital before being discharged on Christmas Eve 2022.

Now 23, Caoimhe wants to turn her experience into a positive to help others.

For ‘Heart Month’ in February, Caoimhe is encouraging people to sign up to the British Heart Foundation’s Walk for Hearts.

Caoimhe said: “It gave me the chance to raise money for life-saving research while also helping my own physical and mental health.

“For me, it was also about taking back some control. Getting diagnosed so young felt like my whole life was out of my hands, but signing up to Walk for Hearts was the first time I chose to do something positive with my condition.

“When I connected with the online community, I realised I wasn’t alone. There were others walking for their own reasons, whether in memory of loved ones or because of their lived experience. There was power in that.

“Even with a pacemaker, I feel lucky to be here. I’ve survived and taking part in this challenge is my way of celebrating that.”

While Caoimhe is hoping to raise valuable funds, she is also keen to share her story to advocate for young people with heart conditions.

“When I was 17, the palpitations started to get a lot worse and much more frequent.

“It meant I had to stop playing a lot of my sport. I played basketball and Gaelic football, training every night of the week.

“People started making comments about my complexion, how pale I was and how dark my eyes were. I simply was not well, but no one could understand why.

“I remember presenting to A&E one time and, because of Covid, I felt they didn’t have time for me. When I look back, if my diagnosis had come a lot earlier it probably would have prevented a lot of the other things I went through.

“I was put on medication for my palpitations, like beta blockers, and I had heart monitors which picked up extra heartbeats.

“So, they were treating all of that, but the problem was when my GP referred me to a cardiologist there was a long wait.”

During this time, Caoimhe also started university, so this brought an added pressure to her life. She added: “For the first two years I was not 100%. I was medicated and I was struggling to live a normal life like all my friends, who were happy and healthy.

“I had stopped all my sports and was becoming less and less active. I just knew I was unwell.

“Then in September 2022 I went into my placement year of my undergrad. In the first week of my placement, I ended up collapsing at work.

"I completely passed out, broke my glasses, a tooth came out and I had a bulge on my head.

“It was then that my doctor decided to put in the Implantable Loop Recorder so they could see what was happening and possibly get a diagnosis.

“I remember when the person put it in, they said ‘oh don’t worry, you'll have this back out of you in three years. Nothing will happen and you'll never need any other device’.”

However, just two months later, episodes in her sleep did happen, which forced Caoimhe to have a pacemaker fitted.

Caoimhe continued: “In around December I was sleeping one night and my heart was stopping in my sleep.

“I remember when I woke up the next morning, I had loads of phone calls from the hospital saying you need to come in right away.

“I had ‘Heart Block’. It’s hard to describe fully, but basically what was happening was the heartbeat would generate from the top and when it got sent to the bottom it wouldn't fire back up.

"So there was like a break in the circuit when there was a pause between beating, hence I started collapsing.

“When I was sleeping that particular night, it was getting progressively longer. The first pause was maybe four seconds, and then the next pause was like 11 seconds, and then the next 20 seconds. The pauses were becoming too long.

“You never really expect anything like that to happen, especially when you are so young.

“When I was told I had to have a pacemaker, I just felt so vulnerable.

“I was given a British Heart Foundation book, ‘Living with a Pacemaker’, and I remember on the front was a gorgeous elderly lady and I just felt like an alien.

“I could not relate to the people or the demographic that I thought these devices were being used in. I had never known or even heard of a younger person having anything like this.

“I got my pacemaker put in on December 22 and was discharged on Christmas Eve. It really was the worst time of my life, I was so low.”

Throughout Caoimhe’s cardiac journey, her family has been a great support.

She credits her mother, father, siblings and boyfriend for giving her the strength to have a positive outlook on life.

She’s no longer on medication and simply has an annual check-up with her consultant.

Caoimhe added: “I have to say, ever since I got the pacemaker implanted my quality of life has drastically improved.

“I am so committed to making a positive difference with research, evidence-based recommendations and guidelines; always just having the patient at the centre of the service and the work is something that I feel so strongly about.

“I'm trying to look at it that this was always supposed to be my path and I'm up for it!”

This Heart Month, the British Heart Foundation is encouraging people to take part in their Walk for Hearts fundraising challenge, to walk 28, 50 or 100 miles during February. Participants can sign up until February 14.

To find out more further information, visit bhf.org.uk/walkforhearts