”I RAN MY FIRST MARATHON AFTER HAVING OPEN-HEART SURGERY”
Anna Borghesani pushed through the psychological and physical trauma of serious surgery to take on her running dream
WORDS: LISA JA CKSON
INSPIRATION
When I was born, the doctors immediately realised something was very wrong as I couldn’t cry,” says Anna Borghesani, 41, a scientist and fitness instructor from Ipswich. “They told my parents I wouldn’t survive as I’d been born with congenital heart disease, in my case pulmonary stenosis, which is a narrowing of a heart valve. I had other ideas, however. I had surgery to widen the valve when I was just three years old. As a small child I was weak, but because I had surgery so young, I was able to lead an almost normal life.
“In 2013, when I was 37, I started to feel very, very tired and I was getting sick all the time. I frequently had colds, high fevers and palpitations and kept feeling breathless. I’d always known I’d need to have a new heart valve fitted and, when my cardiologist finally told me I had a surgery date, I felt relieved.