Amy Grant had no idea that she had a genetic heart condition, one that could have potentially been fatal. The gospel singer opened up about the surprising diagnosis in a recent episode of The Doctors, recalling the serendipitous moment that likely saved her life.
Amy happened to join her husband, Vince Gill, at his cardiologist appointment, when the doctor suggested she get checked as well.
“When the doctor said, ‘Hey, why don’t we check you out,’ I was like, ‘Are you talking to me?'” Amy recalled. “My dad had bypass surgery when he was in his 50s. [The doctor] was like, ‘You’re great, you’re great, you’re great.’ And then the next day, he called me and said, ‘Call me as soon as you get this.'”
Amy was ultimately diagnosed with Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (PAPVR). where one or two of the pulmonary veins returns blood to the right atrium, instead of the left, which is where it normally goes. She had surgery in June to repair the condition.
“I just felt the way I had always felt,” Amy shared. “And so, when he said, ‘We’re gonna need to do this surgery, and we normally do it on two and three-year-olds’ … it’s discovered in cadavers of 60-year-olds. I was like, ‘Let’s not do that!’ But you know, what’s really beautiful is, I was asymptomatic; I’m totally fine. But I actually felt very different after the surgery. I don’t know if that would be true of anybody else, but I’ve always had a real kind of knock-around kind of heartbeat. It wasn’t a dangerous heartbeat. It would just make me feel like I was high, or I’d had a couple glasses of wine. It just felt like, ‘Well that was weird.’ And it kept increasingly getting more persistent.”
The silver lining for Amy, in addition to getting a clean bill of health, is that she has inspired so many others to get their hearts checked as well.
“I always thought, ‘Well that’s just the heartbeat of a flower child,'” Amy said with a laugh. “A couple of times, and I only said it twice, but I remember telling a few people after multiple concerts in a row, ‘It’s the weirdest thing sometimes. I feel like I’m suffocating.’ But never, ever, ever did I think something was wrong. To me, the greatest thing is, I’m 59. Of course most of my friends are around my age. I’ve had so many of them, especially ones that were super active, that have called me or texted or emailed, saying, ‘OK, I made an appointment with my cardiologist.”
Thankfully, Amy’s husband also got a good report from his cardiologist as well.
“Vince is 63, and his dad died of a heart attack — there were some underlying circumstances — at 65,” she explained. “He would find himself going up a set of stairs, going, ‘Is something wrong?’ Maybe a little shortness of breath. The doctor just said, ‘Hey, you need to exercise more, and have a healthy diet.'”
Amy just announced a double-disc vinyl release of her 1985 Unguarded album. The milestone record included “Find a Way” and “Everywhere I Go,” which both landed on the pop charts. She also announced a new release of her 2016 Tennessee Christmas record as well. Find more information at AmyGrant.com.