Heart Patient Heads Foundation Helping Others to Survive the Disease

At nine years old, Abigail Smythe lost her mother to heart disease. Her mother was only 39 years of age.

Seven years later Abigail began a medical journey that would eventually confirm one of her deepest fears, that the condition that had taken her mother’s life was also affecting her.

Today, Ms. Smythe is not only living with heart disease but she is also helping other Jamaicans to live through it.

As founder and Managing Director of the I Have A Heart Foundation, she has turned her own experience of fear, misdiagnosis, surgery and uncertainty into a mission to make cardiac care more accessible to others.

Through the patient-led philanthropic organisation, Ms. Smythe provides financial assistance to patients, advocates for improved cardiac services, raises awareness and helps hospitals to acquire specialised equipment needed to expand Jamaica’s capacity for minimally invasive heart procedures.

Ms. Smythe tells JIS News that her journey began long before she received a diagnosis. She recalls experiencing signs and symptoms from as early as age seven. Yet, for years, her concerns were not linked to a serious heart condition. Instead, she was described as hyperactive and was told at different times that she was experiencing anxiety or stress. “I knew from age seven that something was wrong with my heart,” she says.

It was not until she was 19 that she was properly diagnosed, and in early 2012, she learned that she had arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a rare and progressive heart disease. The revelation was devastating.

“When the doctor saw the results, she looked at me and she said, ‘I am sorry, but you have the same condition that killed your mother’,” Ms. Smythe recalls.

Her first surgery came in April 2012, when she received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), commonly referred to as a “battery”. That was only the beginning.

Ms. Smythe has since undergone several additional surgeries and is preparing for another procedure later this year. But somewhere along that difficult journey, she began to think beyond her own survival.

She knew what it meant to be afraid. She knew the uncertainty of wondering where the money for treatment would come from. And she understood the importance of having people around her who could provide emotional, social, mental and financial support.

“I am a heart disease patient. I know what it is like. I understand the fear, the worry, wondering where you’re going to get the support from, where you’re going to get the money from. I understand it all,” she says.

That understanding led to her decision to establish the I Have A Heart Foundation in 2013.

“I started it to say, I want to help at least one person,” she explains. More than a decade later, the Foundation has helped many more.

The organisation’s work extends beyond direct assistance to individual patients.

It has conducted school tours, organised blood drives and advocated for greater investment in specialised areas of cardiac care. Among its achievements is advocacy for scholarships in perfusion medicine, which has contributed to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) having two full-time perfusionists.

The Foundation has also donated specialised equipment to support cardiac care, including a surgical light to the UHWI in 2023.

Its latest equipment donation, valued at approximately US$4,000, is another contribution towards strengthening the hospital’s capacity to provide specialised heart procedures.

For Ms. Smythe, these interventions are not simply charitable gestures. They are investments in the possibility of someone else getting the opportunity that she fought for, the opportunity to receive treatment and continue living.

Among the most powerful evidence of the Foundation’s impact, she says, is found in the lives of patients before and after surgery. During cardiac missions, Ms. Smythe sees patients arrive carrying the same fear and uncertainty that she once experienced.

“You see a teacher going back into the classroom, you see a man going back to farming, you see a mother being able to hold her children, you see a young lady being able to walk upstairs,” she says.

Those moments, she adds, are among the most fulfilling experiences of her life. “I get no greater joy doing anything else than my Foundation work,” she says.

The Foundation’s efforts have attracted support from several private-sector organisations, including All Power Limited, Building Trends, Sweat Equity, Margin to Centre and Catalyst Campus.

However, Ms. Smythe believes greater investment is needed if the Foundation is to expand its reach. Her appeal is part of a wider call for Jamaicans to take shared responsibility for improving the nation’s health. “Building a healthier and a stronger Jamaica – it takes a concerted effort,” she says.

“The Government can’t do it alone. Doctors and nurses can’t do it alone. Other organisations can’t do it alone. It also takes some level of personal responsibility,” she adds.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, shares that view, emphasising the importance of philanthropy in strengthening public health services. He says while public health institutions continue to provide services, philanthropic support can help hospitals access resources that enhance their capabilities.

Dr. Tufton describes the I Have A Heart Foundation as a “strong example” of volunteerism and charitable giving, while encouraging continued collaboration between the health sector and organisations willing to contribute to healthcare delivery.

Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the UHWI, Dr. Sunil Stephenson, says cardiovascular diseases remain a significant cause of illness, hospitalisation and death.

He stresses that many risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease can be managed through healthier lifestyles and proper treatment.

For people living with chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, he emphasises the importance of controlling these conditions, taking prescribed medication, exercising and paying attention to diet.

The World Health Organization also recommends healthier eating, regular physical activity, avoiding tobacco and harmful alcohol use, and monitoring blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol as important measures for reducing cardiovascular risk.

The WHO identifies cardiovascular diseases as the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for an estimated 17.9 million deaths annually.

For Dr. Stephenson, what makes Ms. Smythe’s work particularly remarkable is that she is helping others while continuing to navigate her own illness.

“It is quite remarkable,” he says, noting that it is unusual to see a patient who requires care herself consistently making such an effort to help others in similar circumstances.

The I Have A Heart Foundation can be reached by email at IHaveAHeart@gmail.com, through its social media platforms at IHAH Foundation, or by telephone at 658-201-7460.

Ms. Smythe says the mission will continue for as long as there are people who need help.