Category: Patient Stories

I never imagined that cholesterol — something so invisible, so quiet — would shape so much of our family’s life. When I met my husband, he already knew high cholesterol ran in his family. His aunties had it, and his father died suddenly of a heart attack when my husband was just a boy. Back…

I suppose to understand and appreciate my journey with Lp(a), it makes sense to go to where it all began – before I even knew I had heart disease. A rush to Gosford hospital in September of 2022 via ambulance. I had been coughing up blood….being an ex-smoker, I believed my number was up. The…

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…

Lp(a) awareness saves lives. I first discovered I had high cholesterol at the age of 17. It came about by chance, after routine blood tests for an unrelated issue revealed unusually high levels for someone my age. My doctor kept a close eye on me over the years and, while my cholesterol remained on the…

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…