Good heart health was one thing that Rachel Milledge, now 61, found wasn’t a assure very early on.

Rachel had a tough begin as a baby when she was born with two holes in her coronary heart which had been corrected by way of surgical procedure when she was 9.

She was cleared till 30 years later when she found she had atrial fibrillation, which describes a situation that triggers irregular and sometimes abnormally quick coronary heart charge.

New figures from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) recommend the variety of individuals recognized with atrial fibrillation within the UK has handed 1.5 million for the primary time.

Worryingly, sufferers with the situation are 5 occasions extra prone to endure from a probably deadly or life-changing stroke, based on the NHS.

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Part-time store assistant Rachel first seen her heart charge didn’t appear fairly proper on the gymnasium which prompted her to see a GP.

The key signs of atrial fibrillation embody palpitations, breathlessness and dizziness, the NHS explains.

However, the guts situation doesn’t all the time rear its ugly head, leaving sufferers unaware that their coronary heart charge is irregular.

After 24-hour monitoring, Rachel had a “treatment that corrects abnormal heart rhythms by blocking electrical pathways in the heart”, generally known as ablation, in 2000.

The part-time store assistant had one other ablation two years later to attempt to deliver her heart charge again to regular.

Rachel, from Verwood, stated: “A part of this is believed to be related to scar tissue within my heart from the original surgery I’d had as a child. 

“But in 2007, I wasn’t feeling right. My heart was scanned and I was diagnosed with heart failure.

“I continued to feel faint and my pulse was low and my cardiologist said I needed a pacemaker.”

In May of the identical yr, Rachel had {the electrical} machine fitted however stated it took her some time to return to simply accept it.

“In my mind, the pacemaker was controlling me and it was difficult to know that it is something I’ll have forever,” the 61-year-old added.

Since then, Rachel has determined to go away one thing in her will for the BHF. 

She added: “I’ve seen, personally, just leaps and bounds in treatment and want to help to continue to move things forward.”