My Heart Was Repaired at 40.

My Heart Was Repaired at 40. Learning to Trust It Again Took Almost Ten Years.

WHF story

On 15 November 2016, at the age of 40, I underwent a triple coronary artery bypass—CABG x3—after being diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease.

The surgery saved my life. But I discovered that repairing my heart and recovering from heart disease were not quite the same thing.

I came home with a heart that had been surgically treated, but a mind that remained frightened.

I became intensely aware of every sensation in my body. A change in my heartbeat could trigger anxiety. Physical exertion could make me wonder whether something was wrong. There were periods of fear, uncertainty and depression.

Looking back, I often describe it this way:

The surgery could bypass my blocked arteries, but it could not bypass my fear.

That part of my recovery took much longer.

Gradually, however, life became bigger than my bypass. I returned to work, travelled, spent time with my family and began living rather than continuously waiting for something to go wrong.

For several years my approach to health remained defensive: take my medicines, get my tests done, see my doctors and try to prevent another cardiac event.

Eventually, I started asking myself a different question.

Instead of asking, “How do I prevent another heart problem?” I began asking, “How healthy, strong and fit can I actually become?”

That change in perspective transformed my relationship with my body.

I began exercising more seriously. Strength training became part of my routine. I walked and cycled. I learned more about nutrition, metabolic health and recovery.

But the greatest transformation wasn’t physical.

I began trusting my body again.

There had been a time when an increased heartbeat frightened me. Years later, I was deliberately exercising in ways that increased it.

In March 2026, at almost 50, I restarted consistent training after a break at approximately 82.5 kg. By September I was around 75 kg. I strength-train regularly, walk, cycle and continue working on my cardiovascular and metabolic health.

I don’t do everything perfectly. There are missed workouts, social occasions, illnesses and days when discipline disappears.

What I have learned is simply to return.

A poor meal does not require a poor week. A missed workout does not require abandoning the programme.

Perfection is exhausting. Consistency is sustainable.

There is something else I consider essential to my story.

Medicine saved my life. Lifestyle is not its replacement.

Surgeons gave me the opportunity to have this second chapter. My medicines and medical follow-up remain essential. Exercise, nutrition, weight management and staying active are not alternatives to medical treatment. They are my contribution to that partnership.

Nearly ten years after CABG, my bypass remains part of my identity—but I no longer allow it to define the boundaries of what I can become.

At 50, I don’t want my 30-year-old body back. I want strength that helps me remain independent as I age. I want cardiovascular fitness that allows me to travel and live actively. I want better metabolic health, mobility and energy for my work and family.

The prize is no longer youth.

The prize is capacity.

If I could sit beside the frightened 40-year-old I was in that hospital in November 2016, I wouldn’t tell him not to be afraid.

I would tell him:

The fear will not always be this loud.

You will work again. You will travel. You will laugh without analysing your heartbeat. You will lift weights. You will cycle. You will become stronger.

And most importantly:

The operation you are frightened of is not the end of your normal life. It is the reason you are being given another chance to build one.

This World Heart Day, that is the message I would like to share with anyone frightened by a heart disease diagnosis:

Do not measure your future from the fear you feel on the worst day of your life.

Give medicine the opportunity to do its job.

Then give yourself the opportunity to do yours.

You may be surprised by how much life is still waiting on the other side.