Doctors, patient advocates hope simulation ‘suit’ will raise heart failure awareness – CTV
Feb. 23, 2023
Marc Bains was an active 23-year-old when he got what he thought was the flu or bronchitis.
He couldn’t climb the stairs without getting out of breath. When he finally made it up to his bed, he couldn’t lie down flat without coughing.
When he started getting chest pains, he went to the ER in Richmond, B.C.
After a series of tests, his doctor told him he had heart failure.
“It was shocking,” said Bains, who is now 37.
“My life essentially stopped where everyone’s life kept going.”
Heart failure means that the heart can’t pump out enough blood to circulate fresh oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, usually because the muscle has become either too weak or too stiff, said Patrice Lindsay, director of health systems at the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Heart failure usually affects people much older than Bains — and as the population ages, it’s become “a major Canadian health issue,” she said.
