Eighteen-year-old Anne-Marie, who has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, offers support online
College student Anne-Marie has become the CMA's first teenager with cardiomyopathy to offer support to others. She will be offering to share her experiences online with other young people. She will be happy to discuss by email issues around, for example, growing up with the condition, the experience of having an internal defibrillator (ICD) fitted and how she has handled her concerned parents.
Anne-Marie, who took part in CMA key contact training, was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy when she was two. But she also hopes to be able to help young people with other types of cardiomyopathy as many of the issues they face are the same.
She said: "When you first find out you have the condition you can feel very alone. You don't always want to talk to your parents about things and your friends can't fully understand what you are going through. "If any young person wants to contact me, they will find I do understand."
Members can contact Anne-Marie by email, managed through the CMA office, anne-marie@cardiomyopathy.org and Anne-Marie also has a page in the newsletter discussing young people's cardiomyopathy issues.
Dedicated to Damian McLoughlin, who died age 20 of cardiomyopathy. This site is supported by Damian's family and friends.
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