Category: Patient Stories

It was the 1990s and cholesterol was everywhere in heart news. I didn’t want to know about it. I was tucking into Camembert cheese, pastries, butter, and big fat steaks. Besides, I was a female in my 20s, a non-smoker and in good health; cholesterol didn’t apply to me. Or maybe it did? My family has…

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I’ve ever read. Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have… you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in movies. Here is…

I was in my 50’s when I found out my dad had actually died of a heart attack in his early 60’s.  Given my family history, my GP suggested we should check my cholesterol.  The result from that test shocked me.  I felt healthy and fit and yet I still had a cholesterol level that…

I was seven years old when my dad had his first heart attack.  At just 37 years old it was very young for someone who had a healthy lifestyle to suffer a major heart attack. My dad’s event made our family aware of high cholesterol however we were never informed coronary vascular disease at a…

My FH journey began about 10 years ago in my late twenties when one of my health professionals suggested a cholesterol panel as part of a wellbeing check. My results indicated that my Total Cholesterol was over 10 and my LDL Cholesterol above 7. My GP reviewed my results and gave me a factsheet about…

High cholesterol has been in our family for generations.  My Nana had a heart attack at 46, her brother died at 42, my dad has always had elevated cholesterol and my Aunty has high cholesterol too.  There was something going on in our family, but we had no idea what. My dad tried for years…