Patient Stories
Katie Wright
Teacher, Wife, Cardiac Arrest Patient…and Marathon Runner
Katie Wright doesn’t remember running to the top of the bleachers to greet her dad at a high school football game. She can’t recall laying flat on the bench, her heart racing and her consciousness fading. Her memory is blank to her father’s frantic CPR routine, the paramedics’ shocks with an external defibrillator, the fading cheers of the crowd, and the rush of the ambulance.
In November 1999, 18-year old Katie became one of the 325,000 Americans annually whose hearts’ electrical systems inexplicably malfunction. Katie is one of the lucky ones: while almost 900 Americans die every day from Sudden Cardiac Arrest, thanks to immediate medical attention, Katie survived when her heart stopped abruptly, without warning.
In the hospital, doctors were not able to pinpoint a cause for Katie’s heart problems. Given her health history – she competed in track and cross country running, ate healthy and did not abuse drugs – she was not a typical candidate for cardiac arrest. But doctors did know she’d suffered ventricular fibrillation, making her a prime candidate for an ICD – an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
After a week in the hospital to recover from the arrest, Katie resumed her senior year of high school – with the ICD implanted under her pectoral muscle, its leads positioned in her heart. But she did not resume her running career. “We didn’t know what caused my heart to stop, and it made me really unsure of the situation. I just didn’t know if I could trust my ICD to kick-in when I needed it to,” recalls Katie.
Today, Katie is a star marathon runner, a life skills teacher at the Texas School for the Blind, and a bride – “I married my biggest cheerleader” – who plans to run at least three marathons and three half-marathons in the coming year.
“I’ve found that life with an ICD is almost the same as life without an ICD. For me, there really isn’t any difference running today than when I was running in high school,” said Katie.
One difference for Katie is her twice-yearly follow-up visits with her electrophysiologist, who has encouraged her active lifestyle. When “interrogating” her device, her physician can learn how her heart, and her device, have functioned since her last visit. “Since the printout shows my heart rate increasing at 5 a.m., my doctor even knows when I wake up.”
“I now know that I can run safely. After everything that has happened, I’m grateful and I feel very, very lucky. But mostly, I don’t think about it very much. Running will always be a part of my life, and that is what I think about.”
Katie will run in several marathons throughout 2007 both for herself as well as to raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest, which is sometimes called Sudden Cardiac Arrest. She is sponsored by St. Jude Medical. Katie admits that her responsibility to St. Jude makes her nervous. “For the first time,” she said, “I’m running for something bigger than myself. I want to show everyone that an ICD doesn’t limit you, it creates possibilities. Instead of being discouraged by this device, I want to create awareness that having an ICD is not the end of an active lifestyle.”
Katie’s Running Accomplishments Include:
- ’05 San Diego Marathon – Qualified for the Boston Marathon
- ’06 Boston Marathon – 3:36:49 Time
- ’06 Atlanta Half-Marathon – 1:27 Time/2nd in Age Group
- ’06 Las Vegas Marathon – 3:20 Time/2nd in Age Group
- '07 Boston Marathon – 3:26:17 Time
Katie’s 2007 Schedule Through June:
- Rock'N' Roll Marathon - San Diego, CA (June 3)
Follow Katie’s running endeavors through this Web site. Her training, race time, placement as well as event experiences will be posted before and after each of the above events.
Katie's Blog Entries:
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