KEEPING HER HEART IN THE GAME

Lake Wales Woman Works to Overcome Heart Disease With Positive Outlook, Strong Medical Team

- PAUL CATALA

When Chands Leath was a young girl, she led an active life playing Little League softball and playing around her neighborhood in Lake Wales.

But as Leath got older, she began to gain weight, developed asthma and as a teenager was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, a hormonal disorder that causes enlarged ovaries with cysts on them.

The result of these conditions eventually led to a diagnosis of idiopathic cardiomyopathy — heart disease, uncontrolled hypertension and valvular disease. In her mid-30s, she also experienced congestive heart failure and takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as “Broken Heart Syndrome.” With this condition, the heart’s main pumping chamber changes shape, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively.

At the time, Leath says the diagnosis of her Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome led to being treated for acne, a symptom of the condition along with mood swings and heavy, painful, lengthy menstrual cycles. In retrospect, she says had she been treated for the “Broken Heart Syndrome,” it may have helped her avoid her serious heart conditions.

Leath, 46, who’s a retired medical secretary, says it soon after became obvious she needed to get help and make changes in her life.

“At the time, like any 30-year-old, I’d overlook the tiredness; I was working, had kids to take care of, I still had to go to that hospital to work for 12 hours a day. I overlooked a lot of things that I now know that had I slowed down and taken care of myself I probably would have known I had heart disease before I did,” she says.