How I Reached the Age of 65 with a Congenital Heart Disease and Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The number of congenital heart diseases is rapidly growing in the United States; they require the most expensive treatment [1] and are often caused by external effects [2]. My parents were born far from each other and had different nationalities and therefore their three children may have had unusual birth defects. My sister was born in the amniotic membrane (shirt), my brother had the 33-th tooth and when I was already adult, a heart defect of my heart — a false chord in the left ventricle — was found. I was born in 1951 and I felt no discomfort to the heart for a long time; after school I did sports and even had local awards. Later, as a student, apart from the usual physical education lessons, I either swam with fins in the pool (4 times a week) 5 km per training or practiced boxing. Suddenly, in the swimming pool I felt discomfort in the heart after my summer break. The heart test found a heart murmur but physicians thought these were the effects of active sports. However, after 8 years after the end of my sports career and sedentary life, the heart palpitations began to appear during the motion activity. For twenty years, I have kept my memory the fact that the Russian skater Yevgeny Grishin who had the congenital heart disease became the Olympic champion and I decided to eliminate the discomfort with the physical activity. Modern research has confirmed the beneficial effects of physical activity for the heart [3,4].