Teenager refuses to be held back by heart condition

A TEENAGER whose serious medical condition was repeatedly mistaken for anxiety is now campaigning to make others aware that heart conditions can strike anyone of any age.

- by GUARDIAN REPORTER

Molly Cullingford, from Liskeard, was 16 when, in August 2021, she started suffering constant cramps, migraines and nausea.

She went back and forth to the doctor who, she said, thought she was worried about starting college, but then her symptoms got worse.

"I began to not be able to stand up for long periods of time, and I wasn’t able to keep food down," she says. "We had a home visit from the doctor and I was told I had a kidney infection."

By the next day Molly was so unwell, with severe chest pain, a racing heart and numbness in her left arm, that she was taken to hospital where tests finally revealed chronic rheumatic myopericarditis, a condition which had permanently damaged her heart valves.