Living with Wolff Parkinson White syndrome

I had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) when I was a child. I remember waking up because my heart would start beating very rapidly and for about 2 or 3 years my parents thought I was exaggerating when I told them my heart was beating fast.

As I grew into a young teen I became very active in sports and found my WPW to be getting worse and worse.

My father finally took me to the hospital one day because I had a three-day long episode and my body was starting to turn blue. It was then I was diagnosed and put on medication.

Then within about a year I was in about eighth grade. I became even more active in sports and I started to black out in the middle of running exercises and such.

On a regular visit with my cardiologist I told him what I was going through and how frustrating it was for me. After we finished the appointment he basically told my father and I that the next time I had an episode where I blacked out like I had been doing, I could easily slip into a coma and not come out.

It was then we decided to have the ablation done. I was out of the hospital the next day and have not had any sort of episode since. It was pretty much one of the best decisions I have ever made.