A woman who was diagnosed with heart failure and told she would die within a year is still alive – six years later.
Gerry Langan had been suffering from extreme fatigue, swelling, fluid retention, shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate for months when she realised something was wrong.
The now 34-year-old was a competitive soccer and CrossFit athlete, but found she was unable to do contact sports or physical activity because of her health.
When the mum-of-two made the decision to see a doctor, she had no idea of the nightmare that would soon unfold.
“I was diagnosed with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension and heart failure,” Gerry, who is from Florida, US, told Need To Know.
“I was devastated and blindsided [when doctors told me my prognosis].
“I was told if I didn’t start treatment immediately I had a year, maybe two, to live.
“It was soul-crushing.
“I called my friends and family and told them to kneel down and pray for a miracle.”
Pulmonary arterial hypertension, also known as PAH, is when there is high blood pressure in the lungs, and heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly.
This usually happens because the organ has become too weak or stiff.
Gerry started on an IV treatment the same day she was diagnosed, in September 2019.
Alongside the treatment, she also had to learn how to live with PAH.
She said: “My body started fighting to stay alive and I felt a difference [from the treatment] almost immediately.
“[But] the illness is a rare, progressive disease that affects people differently, so sometimes you can be farther along than someone who was diagnosed long before you.
‘It’s body dependent.
”I used to play soccer competitively but because of my fragility I can’t play sports like that anymore.
”I also sometimes have periods of eight to 10 days of pain, where I am essentially useless because the medications are taking it out of me.”
Despite the challenges she had to deal with, Gerry was overjoyed to have made it past the one-year mark.
She claims doctors are now hopeful that new drugs could make PAH a disease that can be managed for life.
The mum is part of a clinical trial and is trying a new injection treatment.
She said: “I counted down the days till the first one [year] and even now the anniversary of diagnosis looms for me.
“I had a lot of dread and anxiety
“Now I might be able to beat this.
“I am feeling pretty triumphant for each year that passes.
“I am so thankful and so hopeful for the future.
“My six-year anniversary is this September and I feel that will be the first time I can breathe, literally and figuratively – and maybe this disease will no longer be a death sentence.
“I have been lucky that I respond well to the medications, it’s my body‘s way of saying we’re staying here as long as possible no matter what.”
Gerry, who has six-year-old twin sons Gabriel and Gideon with her husband Jason, is determined to live and see them grow up.
She added: “When I was diagnosed I was heartbroken for my husband.
“We had only been married two years at the time, and our kids were barely one.
“I was terrified they were going to lose me.
“And now look, I’m still here with my beautiful family.”
READ MORE: ‘One of my legs is 2.5cm longer – strangers stare and ask if they can pray for me’
