Home > Student Life > UMD student speaks out about her battle with heart disease
UMD student speaks out about her battle with heart disease
BY JULIA DAVIS
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/28
TYLER SWEENEY / STATESMAN
April Gottung, an UMD sophomore who is battling heart disease.
There is a two-inch-long, half-inch-wide scar on the chest of sophomore April Gottung. Underneath this scar lies a defibrillator and a story. While the machine under her skin is like all others, the story is unique. Gottung plans to share that story next week on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C., in hopes of raising awareness about her disease.
Gottung has Long QT syndrome (LQTS). This is a hereditary heart rhythm disorder that can potentially cause fast, chaotic heartbeats. The rapid heartbeats, caused by changes in the part of your heart that causes it to beat, may lead to fainting. In some cases, the heart’s rhythm may beat so erratically that it can cause sudden death, according to MayoClinic.com. Gottung lived with symptoms of LQTS for years before she was treated, and her treatment led her family members to be tested as well.
Starting at the age of 8 until 14, Gottung played a lot of sports. Sometimes, after practice or a game, she would pass out. She and her mother always assumed that she was just playing too hard, so until something more serious happened, they didn’t seek much medical attention. “At 14, I really wasn’t thinking of heart disease,” said Gottung. “My freshman year of high school, that all changed. One night I answered a phone call from a friend, and the next thing I remember was my mom holding me in her lap screaming my name. After I came to, she told me I passed out again, but this time I had a seizure as well.”
Gottung described this experience and the look of fear on her mother’s face when she woke up as one of the scariest parts of the entire ordeal. Gottung and her family knew that after the seizure happened, they needed to find out what was going on, so they went to the hospital that same night. For the next three days, doctors ran several tests on Gottung, attempting to determine what had caused the seizure. “On my second day in the hospital, they ran an EKG test, which revealed that I had Long QT syndrome,” said Gottung. “On the third day, I had surgery to have a defibrillator implanted in my chest.”
Gottung’s father and sister were also tested and diagnosed with LQTS, and two weeks after her surgery, they both had a defibrillator implanted as well. The discovery of this disease in her family came too late for her grandpa, who died suddenly and mysteriously 20 years ago. A recent review of the autopsy showed that he had, in fact, died from LQTS. “It’s sad to know that my grandpa could be here today if only they had known about this disease sooner,” said Gottung.
After Gottung was diagnosed, she became proactive in trying to raise awareness of her disease. She joined the American Heart Association (AHA) and was soon asked to act as a spokesperson for Wisconsin, where she is originally from. She has been a part of TV commercials, newsletters and fundraising with AHA ever since.
Next week, Gottung will travel to Washington, D.C., to speak to Congress, particularly Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, about raising funding for heart disease research. By doing this, she also hopes to raise awareness of LQTS, so that young people and anybody who is experiencing symptoms will get tested. “If I can help save one life by telling my story and bringing awareness to the community, it is all worth it,” said Gottung.
