Karen Faith, 74, with the medical team after surviving heart attack in the ICU. Photo credit – West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
A Northwood woman given just a 2% chance of survival after a major heart attack has praised Watford General Hospital’s intensive care team for saving her life.
Karen Faith, 74, was otherwise fit and healthy and in remission from cancer when she suddenly became unwell at home. What was initially thought to be an infection later revealed to be a major heart attack that had caused a hole in her heart.
Doctors discovered she had both a blocked and torn artery, leaving her with multiple organ failure and facing a procedure that carried a slim chance of success.
Karen said: “The nurses and doctors gave me the will to live. I’m here now because of that team. They couldn’t have done more. They saved my life.”
The damaged tissue in her heart was too soft and fragile to hold the stitches or patch needed to repair the hole, making immediate surgery extremely risky, while delaying the operation also risked her heart failing.
Watford General’s intensive care unit (ICU) team worked to stabilise Karen and prepare her for specialist heart surgery at Hammersmith Hospital, supporting her failing heart with an intra-aortic balloon pump to maintain her critically low blood pressure for two weeks.
The team also provided dialysis after her kidneys failed and managed complications affecting her liver and lungs, while supporting her emotionally throughout the two-week period.
Karen’s husband, Mark, praised the team’s care and said they helped make an otherwise horrific experience manageable.
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