Wanjiru: Experience with heart disease turned me into advocate

Veronica Wanjiru was involved in a tragic accident in 2014 and had to undergo a pelvic surgery.

Wanjiru, popularly known for a role in the drama series Tahidi High as ‘Miss Obija’, started to have a series of abnormal heartbeats in 2016.

She dismissed it as an effect of the accident she had few years back.

Sometimes she would have backaches that would make her tremble. When she sought medical attention, doctors at various hospitals could not determine what exactly the problem was.

“I visited numerous hospitals because I had various symptoms but I didn’t know what was making me to have abnormal heartbeats. I have been treated for various diseases,” Wanjiru said.

She was treated for arthritis but the problem did not stop.

“In 2020, my dad died due to Covid-19 but he also had hypertension. I was also getting treated for the same whenever they would see me having an abnormal heart rate,” she said. 

This affected her acting career as there are some roles she could not take. There are some things she could not do. She could not even board a plane.

She would avoid certain foods such as cooking oil for the fear that it could make an already bad situation worse.

In the same year, she contracted Covid and chronic pneumonia and had to be hospitalised for long.

But on the same day she was discharged, she developed abnormal heartbeat, this time persistent hence had to be rushed back to hospital.

She got resuscitated. Twice. At that time, her heart was recording more than 380 beats per minute.

A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute. Generally, a lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.

The hospital demanded that she pays Sh400,000 to be put into cardiac ICU but she could not afford that at the moment.

She was then put in an ambulance and transferred to Mediheal hospital in Parklands.

“I decided to resign to fate. At Mediheal four doctors were discussing me like a project, and I realised I was in a good place. I discovered I have Supraventricular tachycardia,” she said.

Supraventricular tachycardia is a rapid heartbeat that develops when the normal electrical impulses of the heart are disrupted.

There may be symptoms like heart palpitations or there may be no symptoms at all.

She stayed in the hospital from December 22 last year to February 24 for two months. Right now she is doing well and turned into a heart diseases champion.

Wanjiru said she is a living testimony that anybody can have such diseases and advocates early screening and diagnosis.

She joined the rest of Kenyans in marking the World Heart Day at Mediheal on Thursday and seized the opportunity to call on Kenyans, especially those in the rural areas to get checked for early intervention.

"You don’t have to travel out of the country for treatment," she said.

She now eats plenty of fruits, and neither drinks nor smokes. 

Dr Vijaysinh Namdeo Patil, a cardiologist at the Mediheal Hospital, said Kenyans should adhere to what he terms as ABC principles.

“A is to avoid alcohol and tobacco. B is to become active at least you should walk, run or do swimming  for at least 30 to 45 minutes per day for at least five days in a week as per the WHO recommendation and C is cut down fat, extra sugars and salt,” Patil said.

Dr Mishra Kiprop warns that unless urgent action is taken to avert the situation, cancer and cardiovascular disease are likely to be the leading diseases globally by 2030.

Kiprop is the former MP for Kesses constituency and chairman and founder of the Mediheal Group of Hospitals.

“All the big bodies of heath, including WHO prediction which is evidence-based, shows that by 2030 the two diseases will constitute 60 per cent of all the disease prevalence and incidences in the world,” the former legislator said.

He, however, said Kenya as a country is doing well both in the private and public sector in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the diseases.

According to Mayo clinic, a heart rate of more than 100 beats a minute is called a tachycardia. During an episode of SVT, the heart beats about 150 to 220 times a minute, but it can occasionally beat faster or slower.

(edited by Amol Awuor)