For 31-year-old April Pinkard, of Live Oak, Fla., the old saying “follow your heart” has new meaning after a rare medical condition caused her heart to move to the other side of her chest.
Pinkard’s doctor discovered her condition when he failed to find a heartbeat, wzzm13.com reported.
“He listened to my heartbeat one day and it just wasn’t there,” she said. “He was all over my chest looking for it.”
A full examination found that Pinkard’s heart had floated into an empty space in her body — the result of having a diseased lung removed as a young child.
But three years ago, when Pinkard’s floating heart began making her sick, her physician, Dr. Mohammed Choudhury decided to send her to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville where surgeons used breast implants to hold her heart in place.
"We're lucky we found the problem and it got fixed," said Choudhury.
Pinkard said a positive attitude keeps her going, but 30 years of medication has taken its toll on her body.
“The steroids over the years, it damaged my heart and damaged the bones. I’ll sneeze or cough and I’ll break 10, 12 ribs,” she said.
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