‘Two hours later and I would have been dead’

Westmead Hospital patient Valerie Sewell is grateful to be alive after suffering a sudden rupture to a major blood vessel in her heart.

“I had an aortic aneurism explode,” Valerie said.

“Two weeks ago I was in my bathroom and after my shower I lifted my head up and ‘bang’. It was like somebody had inserted a steel band and it was tightening around me.”

Valerie was brought straight to Westmead Hospital, where a heart scan revealed the seriousness of the problem and she was immediately prepared for surgery.

“The professor who saw me saved my life. Two hours later and I would have been dead,” she said.

“The care here is absolutely brilliant, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I’ve been in here before, I’ve been in Blacktown before and they are brilliant – I can’t fault it.

“Luckily my sister is flying over from Ireland next week and that means I get to go home. There is nothing better than going home.”

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