Amy Grant is continuing to recover from having open heart surgery in June, to correct a congenital heart condition. The wife of Vince Gill reveals why it was so important to have the operation, and sooner rather than later.
“I had an irregular heartbeat for the last 10 years, and it exhibited every day,” Amy shared on Good Morning America. “It bothered me a little bit and then I’ve had a harder time singing in the last five years … everything kind of tightening up as I was trying to sing. I remember a couple times telling Vince, ‘I feel like I’m suffocating.’ It’s the weirdest thing, I’m breathing as deep as I can, but in my mind none of that had to do with my heart.”
After speaking with Vince’s cardiologist, Dr. John Bright Cage in Nashville, the gospel singer decided to undergo some tests, with startling results, showing she had a birth defect called partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR), and was urged to have surgery to repair it before she turned 60.
“They were doing an ultrasound of my heart and the doctor came in,” the 59-year-old recalled. “He said, ‘Vince, this is the kind of situation where Amy would be fine, fine, fine and then one day it would be catastrophic. And we don’t know when that would be, but it would have been sooner rather than later.”
Now doing well, which Amy credits to the numerous prayers that went up on her behalf, she hopes that she can inspire others to be proactive with their own health as well.
“If I have got something wrong, anybody could have something wrong,” the gospel singer urged. “My message would be, take a minute and take care of yourself. You don’t know that something is wrong unless you make sure it’s right.”
Amy also credits her cardiologist with convincing her to get tested, even when it seemed like everything should be fine.
“I just think sometimes in all of our jobs, we have what we’re trained for, and then beyond that, there’s an intuition and inspiration,” she said. “And I think Dr. Cage did everything that was required for testing for what he thought might be an issue for me because my father had [heart bypass] surgery, but beyond that, I don’t [know] … I am so grateful.”