FENTON, Mich. – On the surface, Hannah Cislo looks like a healthy, happy young mom.
Only the scar peeking out from her shirt hints at everything the 29-year-old has been through.
“I think it’s something to be so proud of,” said Cislo. “It’s a part of who you are. It’s a testimony, for sure, of being alive.”
Cislo was born with a heart defect called bicuspid aortic stenosis.
“I didn’t have any family history of it, so it was just kind of a fluke diagnosis,” said Cislo.
The condition affected the blood flow through her heart, but for most of her childhood, Cislo didn’t experience any significant symptoms.
Then one day, that changed.
“When I was 12 years old, I was running down the hill with my best friend, and I started to get really short of breath. I started feeling really dizzy at the end of the hill. I kind of like started falling and fumbling. I kind of fumbled into the house and completely could not breathe. I turned blue. My mom was freaking out,” remembered Cislo.
She found out she needed a procedure to expand her heart valve. Cislo was also told she would need a valve replacement someday.
“Once you need your valve replaced, it’s kind of hard to have kids, so we always knew that we might want to start our family earlier than later,” said Cislo.
Her cardiologist gave her the greenlight.
“We got the go ahead to start to try to have a baby, which we were so excited about. Well, once I found out I was pregnant, we did an echo, which is just like an ultrasound of your heart,” said Cislo.
The echo showed her heart problems had gotten much worse.
“I was four weeks pregnant at the time,” said Cislo. “And they actually told me it was going to be very dangerous to carry her and that an abortion may have been the best option.”
Cislo and her husband Parker were stunned, but she was determined to continue with the pregnancy.
“I had this really weird sense of peace about the pregnancy. I don’t know if it was just my faith or just positivity. I don’t know if something in me just felt like I was going to be okay,” said Cislo.
She was transferred to a high risk pregnancy specialist at the University of Michigan.
The pregnancy went well, but it took a toll.
“Towards the end of the pregnancy, it became extremely hard for me. It was hard for me to pretty much do anything. I was always light headed,” said Cislo.
At 37 weeks, doctors decided it was time to deliver the baby.
“I was really scared and I was nervous. I just had in the back of my head that news that the doctor had told me initially that ‘you and baby may not make it,’” said Cislo.
Baby Vaida was born healthy, but just five weeks later, Cislo needed surgery to replace her heart valve.
The recovery was long and painful, but Cislo made it through. Then just two years later, her new valve began to fail.
The diagnosis was emotionally devastating.
“I very quickly went into the reality, the weight of the reality of it, and thinking about my husband and thinking about my daughter, and thinking, ‘Why did I even, like, make it the first time? Like, what was the point of that?’” said Cislo. “It was just really hard to accept that reality that I was going to have to do it again.”
This time, Cislo had a surgery called the Ross Procedure. Surgeons replaced her aortic valve with her own pulmonary valve and replaced the pulmonary valve with a donor valve.
“It was really hard to recover the second time, but I really tried to lean into my faith and my family, my friends, and say, like ‘I’m here, like I survived this. I woke up, so let’s do it,’” said Cislo.
It’s been over two years since the surgery, and Cislo is more determined than ever.
“I really had to take the time to invest in my mental health and get into trauma therapy and all different types of kind of therapy,” said Cislo.
She is grateful to have Vaida and Parker by her side.
“Every day to me is just like such a blessing. Seeing her, putting her to bed. She’s almost five now. I had the first surgery when she was five weeks. So being able to be here with her is like everything to me,” said Cislo.
She may need another surgery in the future, but Cislo is hoping her new valves will last her a very, very long time.
Cislo is now an ambassador for the American Heart Association. In spite of being born with a heart condition, she admits she didn’t know as much about her heart health and potential treatments as she should have. Cislo wants everyone to pay more attention to their heart and ways to keep it healthy.
“It’s healing for me, and it’s an opportunity to just spread awareness and just share the importance of taking care of your health and your heart,” said Cislo. “A lot of women are unaware of how many women are affected by cardiovascular disease. One in three women, that’s how they die, is cardiovascular disease, and a lot of women that have it don’t even know that they have it.”
She hopes to help support others dealing with heart issues. And as she approaches her 30th birthday, she is embracing the life she fought so hard to have.
“It’s like, the cliché like, ‘Oh, I’m getting older. I don’t like that,’ but to me, every year is such a blessing,” said Cislo. “To think that I’m gonna be 30, it’s like, ‘Wow, how cool is it that I get to, like, live to this age? I’ve just really learned to appreciate life.”
For more information on women and heart disease, click here.