Monique Chalifour faces heart failure with her community by her side

They say it takes a village to raise a child. One could argue that it also takes a village to save a life. Monique is living proof.

At 38-years-old, Monique was a healthy, active and involved mother of two. She worked as an integration aide at the local high school, played sports, and volunteered in the community. All that changed on May 31, 2022.

“I’d gone upstairs to get ready for bed. Suddenly, I had this burning sensation in my chest. It felt like my heart had exploded,” says Monique.

She called her husband, Robert, and he immediately called 911—Monique was drenched in sweat and ghostly pale. On another phone, Robert called Monique’s parents, who live just minutes away. They arrived first and the frightened family waited for the ambulance together.

“It took half an hour for the paramedics to arrive because I was a 38-year-old female having chest pains. The assumption was that I was having an anxiety attack,” says Monique.

When the paramedics arrived, an EKG confirmed how serious Monique’s situation was—she had had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). This life-threatening medical condition occurs when the lining of a major blood vessel near the heart separates from the outer wall, allowing the blood to push between the layers and force the blood vessel closed.

Monique was rushed to the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), where she was immediately put on an ECMO following multiple cardiac arrests. An ECMO is a lifesaving machine that pumps blood out of the body, reoxygenates it and then pumps it back through the circulatory system. It kept her alive.

At the end of June, Monique returned home to Pointe-Claire and began her recovery. Though she improved at first thanks to a cocktail of heart failure medication, just a few months later she was feeling unwell. Tests revealed that she had had another heart attack and that her heart was struggling.

“All of a sudden, I had heart failure. I was super healthy, I followed all the rules, but my heart never recovered from the original SCAD,” says Monique.

Again, Monique found herself requiring major medical intervention: she underwent double by-pass surgery, which creates a new pathway for blood flow in the heart.

“Recovery from open heart surgery is not easy, but Dr. de Varennes did an amazing job,” says Monique.

Despite the bypass surgery, Monique still felt off. Her appetite was gone, she struggled to breathe and had no energy. A check-up in December revealed that Monique had a condition called mitral valve regurgitation, which causes blood to travel backwards through the heart. As the holidays approached, Monique was implanted with a Mitraclip, a special device that helps the heart valve function correctly.

“After the surgery, my appetite was back. I was so hungry that the hospital food tasted great. January came and I felt amazing. Until I didn’t,” says Monique.

By the end of January, Monique was surprised to be feeling unwell again. On January 26, 2023, as her father was driving her to one of her many medical appointments, she went into cardiac arrest. Frantic, her father called 911 and performed CPR while on the phone with emergency services. Monique was rushed to the MUHC and resuscitated several times. Her family was left with a life-altering decision.

Monique had a long recovery ahead, but she wasn’t alone. After eight months of life-threatening health scares, surgeries and difficult recoveries, word of Monique’s condition had got out. Parents from her children’s school created a schedule to make lunches for her kids throughout the school year, neighbours created a meal train, and her son’s hockey association made t-shirts, stickers and poster boards to show support.

“I am surrounded by support, from my family and my community. I can’t say enough how much that means to me,” says Monique.

Though Monique still faces health struggles, she is positive about the future. With her family and friends by her side, she is confident that she can overcome any obstacles that come her way.

Today, Monique is waiting for a heart transplant. Mechanical hearts are a temporary solution, and a new heart will help her regain the life she had before that fateful night in May 2022. In the meantime, living with an LVAD has become her new normal.