EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Son Vang.
Five years ago, Son Vang battled a dry cough that wouldn’t go away.
It was a mysterious illness until his doctor got a hunch and ordered a heart X-ray. The doctor gave the Leesburg, Virginia, father of three a surprising diagnosis.
“The cardiologist came into my hospital room and said, ‘Look, you have congestive heart failure,’” Vang told WTOP. “I was pretty scared at that time.”
Vang didn’t fit the mold of a typical heart failure patient. At 41 years old, he was young, a nonsmoker and had no family history of the condition.
But the discovery was a relief for him because doctors had a path to wellness. It included getting on a long heart transplant list. And last year, he got an artificial heart pump, giving him more time with his wife and three girls.
“I’ve been feeling better than I have the last five or 10 years,” he said. “You don’t realize how sick you were with your heart not pumping enough blood to the rest of your organs. Now that my heart is pumping full speed, I can be active and play with my kids.”
Sunday is World Heart Day, when doctors and patients around the globe bring attention to heart disease and explore ways to make the organ healthier.
Vang said his journey is a message to others to get checked for heart failure early.
“You can’t tell a person who’s having heart failure,” he said. “It doesn’t show. It’s not like you break your leg and you can see it. With the declining of your heart, you can’t tell.”
Nearly seven million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with heart failure each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Many live undiagnosed for years, battling puzzling symptoms, which include:
- Shortness of breath
- Extreme fatigue
- A constant, dry cough
- Swelling in the legs, ankles and feet
Dr. Robert Kormos, a cardiothoracic surgeon and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, said many times heart failure masquerades as cold symptoms because fluid from the heart builds up in the lungs, causing an incessant cough and congestion.
Kormos said patients and doctors could get to the root of the illness faster with tests designed to spot heart failure.
“Heart failure is lethal. It kills more people than the cancer we treat,” Kormos told WTOP. “The important thing is if you have symptoms, you need another level of investigation. You need to go deeper.”
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