‘Easygoing’ mother’s shock at stress-induced broken-heart syndrome diagnosis

Michelle Canning was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy in January 2021, three months after the sudden death of her father.

Michelle Canning was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy following the death of her father Tommy (Michelle Canning/PA)

A mother-of-three has told of her shock at being diagnosed with broken-heart syndrome following her father’s death as she called for more awareness of the condition.

Michelle Canning was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy in January 2021 and was told it was most likely triggered by the sudden death of her father Tommy three months earlier.

Ms Canning, who was 49 at the time, experienced pain in her chest and arm on her way to a routine doctor’s appointment one morning.

Initially she wrote it off as indigestion but when she arrived she told her GP, who conducted an electrocardiogram test and she was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for treatment.

Stress was manifesting itself physically when I did not feel stressed, and that's frightening

Michelle Canning

The mother, who is from Belfast, does not smoke or regularly drink alcohol, and at the time she was vegan and exercised multiple times a week.

An angiogram revealed her arteries were clear and there was no coronary damage to her heart. She was then diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which can be triggered by stressful events.

She said: “I’m a very easygoing being, I don’t get very stressed and I’m not very dramatic – I take things in my stride. So this was a shock to know that I had developed this condition as a result of stress.

“None of it made sense, but the reality is that stress was manifesting itself physically when I did not feel stressed, and that’s frightening.”

A former journalist who went on to a career in crisis communications, she has since recovered and is keen to raise awareness about takotsubo.

Ms Canning welcomed research led by Professor Dana Dawson, from the University of Aberdeen Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Unit, which found patients who suffer from takotsubo are more likely to die than the general population.

She said: “There needs to be more awareness in current healthcare settings and in professionals to tell someone who’s had takotsubo, here is what has happened, this is the plan for recovery and here are the people you can contact. It must be tailored to the condition.

“Fortunately, the condition is reversible and I am now recovered. However, there is a chance of a recurrence. All I can do is try to manage stress, but then I am stressed by the fact I’ve had this rare condition and it could happen again. There is nothing that I can do to prevent that.

“Everything I do from here on in will be shaped by my experience in a way I couldn’t have possibly known about, but I’m blessed and very lucky that there appears to be no damage and that I am alive and well. Others have not been as fortunate.”

She said she wants to share her experience in the hope it helps others get the right treatment and care.