The Heartbeat I Feared: My Journey Through SVT, SCAD, and Finding Peace

For as long as I can remember, I have lived in fear of my own heartbeat.
As a teenager, I started experiencing episodes where my heart would suddenly race without warning. It was terrifying. Especially because no one could tell me why it was happening.
I went through emergency room visits, cardiology appointments, and countless tests. The tests would always come back normal. I began questioning myself. Is it anxiety? am I imagining it? Why do i feel like somethings wrong?
In 2019 at the age of 29, I received a diagnosis during an Electrophysiology Study: Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). After 10+ years of symptoms I finally had some validation. During the same procedure, I had a successful catheter ablation. Meaning I no longer had SVT. I didn't feel the sense of peace I always dreamed of having. Instead, I became afraid of every skip, pause and flutter my heart made. I spent years counting my pulse, checking my blood pressure and always hyper alert waiting for the next problem to arise.
On January 9, 2026, at 36 years old, I experienced a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), which resulted in a heart attack. I was alone, recognizing every symptom. Arm pain. Check. Jaw pain. Check. Chest pain. Check. Back pain. Check. The one thing I had spent so much of my life fearing was happening.
My spouse was at work. My children were at school. My cats rolled around beside me as if nothing was wrong. Meanwhile, I lay on the floor knowing exactly what was happening and wondering if I was going to die.
I was incredibly fortunate. The paramedic who responded to my call arrived within 11 minutes, and many years earlier had treated a patient experiencing SCAD. That single experience gave him the knowledge to recognize what was happening to me and I was promptly treated for a heart attack.
The irony isn't lost on me. After spending so much of my life fearing that something was wrong with my heart, the moment I had always dreaded finally arrived. But It wasn't for any of the reasons I had imagined. SCAD was confirmed in the middle of the night when I was sent for an angiogram.I spent the next week healing in the cardiac wing in Surrey Memorial Hospital.
SCAD challenges the traditional image of what a heart attack patient looks like. I was 36 years old. I didn't have the typical risk factors associated with heart disease, and I was living a relatively active lifestyle. I didn't fit the profile of someone having a heart attack. The truth is, I did. SCAD most commonly affects women who are otherwise healthy, active and have no risk factors.
It's now been six months, and SCAD has changed my life in ways I am still learning to process. It validated my worst fears while simultaneously challenging me to grow from it.
While there's been a lot of physical healing since my SCAD, the emotional healing has been the most difficult. My relationship with my heart is now different. I no longer want to live in fear of every heartbeat. Instead, I am learning to appreciate the same heart that has carried me through fear, uncertainty, SVT and SCAD. I am learning to move forward, to exercise again and to listen to my body without being afraid of it. More than that, I've discovered a new appreciation for life itself. The things I once rushed past now bring me joy. Ordinary moments feel extraordinary, and I find myself living with a sense of peace I never knew before.
Today, I move forward being grateful for every single heartbeat and every second longer I have with my kids.