“I RAN MY FIRST MARATHON AFTER HAVING OPEN-HEART SURGERY” – Anna Borghesani.
She’s the new internet sensation and becoming an inspiration for everyone. Anna takes on her running a marathon dream post her serious open-heart surgery. Anna Borghesani, 41 now, was born with congenital heart disease, in her case pulmonary stenosis, which is a narrowing of a heart valve. Here’s an inspirational story of her in her words.
“In 2013, when I was 37, I started to feel very, very tired and I was getting sick all the time. I frequently had colds, high fevers and palpitations and kept feeling breathless. I’d always known I’d need to have a new heart valve fitted and, when my cardiologist finally told me I had a surgery date, I felt relieved.”
“However, the week before the operation I was absolutely terrified, as I knew they’d stop my heart from beating and use a heart-lung machine to circulate blood around my body during the operation. The surgery went well, but the psychological stress was immense.”
“A few days after the surgery, I was encouraged to start walking again. I was given an exercise schedule and had to walk for five minutes each day for the first few days and then build up to seven minutes and then 10, and so on.”
Very soon she was able to run 5K and then 10K once a week.
London Marathon Run
Anna wanted to run for charity and raise awareness to those people like her and tell them that they can lead a normal life as well. Her cardiologist wasn’t much happy but he understood her motivation.
“I didn’t do any races in the build-up to London, but on the day I completed it in 5hrs 29mins, which I was thrilled about. I loved everything about the event: the crowds who supported us, and the other runners running for great causes and reasons. Along the way, I raised almost £3,000 for Heart Research UK and the messages I received were incredibly heart-warming!”
This definitely gives an incredible willpower to all those similar people motivating them to beat the pain and inspiring them to live a normal life.
Story inspired from an article published in Women’s Running.
