Victoria Pitstra will sometimes look at her reflection in the mirror and for a moment imagine it’s her identical twin sister Charlotte looking back at her. It’s been 10 years since Charlotte died suddenly of a rare genetic heart condition when she was just 25. Victoria and her other sister Louise Convey still miss her every single day. But Victoria finds some comfort from thinking her beloved lost twin would have still looked like her. Charlotte didn’t know she had a heart problem and tragically could not be saved when she collapsed while ski training with the Army. It’s been devastating, but her sisters say Charlotte has saved their lives and those of others in the family because after her death they discovered they had the same dangerous heart problem. Victoria, Louise, their dad and other relatives have been diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) a rare inherited disease of the heart muscle. Now they’ve been fitted with a life-saving ICD – an implantable cardioverter defibrillator used to treat people with dangerously abnormal heart rhythms. They’ve also had to change their lifestyles – giving up sports they loved but they’re grateful they’re alive. Victoria, 35, from Glasgow, said: “It… Read full this story
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