Former WSU goaltender, now 23, talks about importance of pacemaker use

While most people who get pacemakers are over 60, Seward didn’t let her age stand in the way of getting her physical symptoms checked out when she noticed something was wrong.

Seward, who lives in Beavercreek, caught her own heart health issues one night when she began experiencing chest pain while working at a local hospital as part of experience needed for her senior year studying nursing at Wright State University.

“After experiencing some chest pain and telling some coworkers, I hooked myself up to the (heart) monitor, and it didn’t look very good,” Seward said. “I ended up going to the ER that night.”

After going to emergency room, doctors decided she needed more tests done to find out what was causing her chest pain. She went through a series of tests that examine the heart’s electrical activity.

“After they completed the EP (electrophysiology) study, they decided that my rhythm was a lot worse than what they had expected, so they went ahead and admitted me,” Seward said.

Tests indicated her heart was not beating like it should because of an issue with its electrical system that affected her heart rhythm.

Doctors gave her every test under the sun, she said, before deciding Seward would need a pacemaker.

“I was in the hospital for about three days, and I ended up getting a Medtronic pacemaker on Aug. 3 of last year,” Seward said.

A pacemaker is generally the size of an oreo cookie, said Dr. Robert Kowal, cardiac electrophysiologist and general manager of cardiac pacing therapies at Medtronic.

“It sits in the chest under the skin with wires in the heart that both sense and then stimulate the heart,” Kowal said. “And what it is essentially is a fancy clock. It looks for a heart beat and if it sees one, it does nothing, but if it doesn’t see one after, let’s say, one second, it will then stimulate the heart and then pace it.”

The goal of a pacemaker is to re-establish a normal heart rate for people whose heart rates are too slow, he said.

“In Jessika’s case, it’s even further specialized,” Kowal said.

Seward needed a pacemaker that could simultaneously regulate both her heart rate and the coordination of her heartbeat.

“I was definitely in denial at first. I did not want a pacemaker, I was like, ‘No way, even if that’s the last option, I’m not going to do it,’” Seward said.

Seward ended up having a change of heart.

“It’s definitely reassuring,” Seward said about the pacemaker.

In addition to giving Seward a peace of mind that her heart won’t suddenly stop, it has also improved some of her physical symptoms. Before she had her pacemaker, she felt more symptoms like shortness of breath, numbness in hands and feet when exercising and fatigue, she said.

Those symptoms have since changed dramatically, Seward said. She also uses it as a way to connect with other cardiac patients.

“I’m grateful that I have it, and it’s kind of bridged into a way that I can help other people,” Seward said.

Pacemakers can be for patients who have a continuously slow heart rate or an intermittently slow heart rate, which is where the heart rate is fine most of the time but then drops suddenly, Kowal said.

Symptoms can range from passing out to subtle symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath, he said.

While most people who get pacemakers are over 60, Kowal said people of different ages can still experience heart issues and be in need of a pacemaker.

Because these conditions are less common in people who are younger, they can be overlooked, he said.

“I think one of the lessons of Jessika’s story is that when she was feeling badly and nothing was really helping, she was a good self advocate and was persistent until they found that this was the need,” Kowal said.

Seward uses her unique experience to educate others, stressing the importance of being a self advocate when it comes to health issues.

If someone is experiencing something that’s not normal, she says they should get it checked out and trust their body.

“I definitely could be in a different situation if I did not,” Seward said.

Seward also has a newfound connection to her patients.

“At work, it does bridge into helping educate because a lot of patients are super apprehensive and very nervous, and it can be hard to receive advice from somebody who hasn’t been through this situation,” Seward said.

“If somebody’s getting a pacemaker surgery, being able to explain it from somebody that’s been through it...it’s a lot easier to accept that information,” Seward said.

Today, Seward is feeling better than ever – planning a wedding and enjoying going on long hikes with her fiancé and their two Australian Shepherds.