The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

7 Heartbeat ee Bev Travis, seen here in front heart disease in her family, Bev has seen her father, brother and a sister lose ‘nett lives to the dreaded disease. art surgery in 2002 and has been living a productive life ever since. With oto by J. Peter Hvidsten: Heart disease, or stroke, claims the lives of more than 72,000 Canadian men and women every year We each have our motivations in supporting the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s humanitarian work, but Port Perry’s Bev Travis has more — and deeper — reasons than most On one hand, Bev owes her continued quality of life to the Foundation’s research. On a tragic note, heart disease has claimed several members of her family. Twenty-one years ago, Bev came face to face with a life- changing event. “T was curling, which I did regularly, but found I didn’t have the energy to sweep,” she recalled. “Coincidentally, I was headed to the hospital that afternoon, so my partner suggested I get myself checked out while I was there. I wound up staying in hospital for five days.” The hospital tracked Bev’s wildly fluctuating heartbeat from 40 to 205 beats per minute. A cardiologist diagnosed a heart valve defect. Medication temporarily stabilized the first condition, but surgery was needed to repair the second. “1 felt alright after the operation, but had no energy,” Bev said. “I'd do something trivial, like grocery shop- ping. then need someone else to bring them in once I came onrour yews later, it was obvious a more permanent solu- tion was requit “started passing out because my heart rate was so low. They installed a temporary pacemaker and eventually a permanent one. That helped with my energy level.” In 2002, Bev underwent valve-replacement surgery. The mechanical valve again increased her quality of life. “Ym limited with heavy work,” she admitted. “But I Please turn to page 8 FOCUS - FEBRUARY 2009 9