A cardiac specialist in London, who was born with two congenital heart defects that cause her heart to stop for up to 14 seconds at a time and led to a stroke at 26, has revealed she has undergone nine "interventions" over three decades, including open-heart surgery, after doctors discovered a "gaping hole" in her heart.
Angeliki Asimaki, 45, says her condition means she cannot run for a bus or ascend multiple flights of stairs, but insists it is "definitely" the foundation for her life’s devotion to heart research. Through her British Heart Foundation-funded work at City St George’s, University of London, she has developed a pioneering cheek swab capable of diagnosing and monitoring arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a condition associated with a high risk of sudden cardiac death.
