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Show . This wife stays alive only because of a medical marvel, a pacemaker that keeps her heart beating; seiestewllstow.L Risked My By VALERIE MARSDEN “71's YOUR LIFE you're risking, Valerie,” the doctor told me grimly. T had just announced a woman’s happiest news, that I was expecting a baby. Now, as I’d known he would, he was warning me against going ahead’ with the pregnancy. “The shock of childbirth could kill you,” he said. “Pye made up my mind,” I answered. “I'm going to have this baby even if I have to pay the full price.” We both knew that the only thing that had been keeping mealive for the past two years was a tiny pacemaker battery, no bigger than a matchbox. It sends out electric impulses which help keep my heart beating at a required rate. “We don’t know of anyone with a pacemaker who has had a healthy baby,” the doctor told me. Then, seeing my determination, he relented. “We don’t like to see you risk yourlife, but if you insist on it, we'll do everything we can to help you. Mind you, we can’t guarantee that either you or your baby will live.” The odds were against me, but I had an inner conviction that I could do it. Afterall, my entire life had been touch and go. I’d never dared to hope that I would live to womanhood. I wouldn't have married if I hadn’t been prepared to risk my life to have the child my husband and I both wanted so much. My own mother had died of a heart attack when I was eight. It soon became obvious to Dad, who's a truck driver, that something also was wrong with me. For years, my health seemed to be deteriorating slowly, and there seemed little hope of cure. Even my school days were not exactly happy ones. I found I couldn’t run about and enjoy games like other children. After only a few seconds, I was breathless. I wentto a hospital for a series of tests, and it was discovered that my heart had a “murmur.” Dad was told that the condition wasn’t serious. It would disappear by the time I had grown up. But just the opposite happened. My heart must have been a good deal worse than they thought at first. It was slowing down to an abnormal 80 beats a minute, and my blood just wasn’t circulating properly. | It got so bad that I had to give up my job as a typist because I was continually fainting and 4 Family Weekly, August 18,1967 | : |