I have a family history of heart disease. Both my father and grandfather  died of heart attacks. I have been active my whole life  and still run every day. I once ran for 10 000 straight days,(27 years). I had no symptoms but had a bypass in 2013. I had complications including Afib and pneumothorax which kept me in ICU during the big ice storm. They released me on Christmas eve and I began recovery during that cold winter. In March 2014   I began the 6 month cardiac rehab program at the Whitby  Abilities Centre  where I could begin running again. I joined the cardio rehab team as a volunteer at the Ajax site  and met many patients  worse off than myself. In 2016 I began to have long pauses  at night and with my night HR in the 20s we decided on a pacemaker. A fib returned on and off until I had 2 ablations which worked well but by 2020 my heart function was reduced 

   Most recently, on Jan. 13 I had an early morning near death  event, ( ventricular tachycardia) , and was in hospital for 8 days. My by-pass grafts were all clear , which was great news. They put in a 3 lead ICD which now seems to work well . We are adjusting medications to deal with the heat function issue, although I have no noticeable symptoms . It has been and up and down 8 years with many challenges , but  all the hard work and extremely good care by doctors and nurses has left me humbled and thankful for the entire health care system.  

    Peter V.