I thought I was just tired. Then horrified doctors discovered my heart was the size of a football

Chantal Pelletier was just 20 years old when her body began to betray her.

A lifelong athlete and black belt in kung fu, the Canadian personal support worker was in peak physical shape – until, suddenly, she wasn’t. 

Simple tasks like cooking dinner or taking a shower left her feeling lightheaded and completely wiped out.

‘I started having a hard time standing up long enough to make my own meals without getting exhausted,’ she recalled. 

‘I had to leave the bathroom door unlocked during showers so my roommate or boyfriend could check on me – I felt like I might faint every time.’

The four flights of stairs to her New Brunswick, Canada, apartment, once a non-issue, became a mountain.

At first, doctors suspected she had anemia (a condition where the body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen) or hypothyroidism (when the thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormones to regulate energy).

But those theories quickly fell apart.

By October 2024, things had escalated. After a scan at Grand Falls General Hospital revealed gallstones, she was transferred to Edmunston where she underwent surgery to have them removed. 

But instead of improving, her condition took a frightening turn and she was eventually admitted to the ICU at Institut Universitaire De Cardiologie Et De Pneumologie de Québec in Québec City.

That’s when doctors began monitoring her heart and made a shocking discovery: Pelletier’s resting heart rate was a dangerous 168 beats per minute – nearly double the upper end of normal.

Further tests, including an echocardiogram (a type of heart ultrasound), revealed her heart was enlarged and functioning at just five to 10 percent capacity.

She was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy – a serious condition where the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, becomes weakened and stretched out. As a result, it can’t pump blood properly, and fluid can build up in the lungs and other parts of the body.

‘After each beat, more and more blood was left behind,’ she said. ‘My heart was trying, but it just couldn’t keep up.’

Pelletier went from black belt to bedridden in a matter of months because of a heart that was failing fast.

Much to their horror, doctors also found that she barely had a pulse, leaving many baffled over the speed at which her heart had deteriorated.

‘My heart was compared to the size of a football,’ she said. ‘This is when my cardiology team diagnosed me with dilated cardiomyopathy.’

The condition causes blood to pool and stop flowing, which creates an environment for clots to form in the heart and can lead to strokes. 

Researchers estimate that one in 2,700 people have dilated cardiomyopathy, which is known to be genetic and can run in families. 

Pelletier, her father and sister, were found to be carriers of the BAG3 genetic mutation which can lead to the condition.

‘Just like any unexpected diagnosis, it was surprising, but my sister had been diagnosed with the same thing back in 2011 and went on to receive a heart transplant and recover,’ Pelletier said.

‘I knew that I could still make it out alive and live a healthy and happy life – even if it meant putting my life on pause for some time to focus on my wellbeing.’

With medications such as diuretics, Pelletier was able to lose seven liters of fluid that had built up in her body.   

Diuretics, also known as water pills, help the body eliminate excess fluid by increasing urination, which in turn helps the kidneys remove extra salt and water from the body, reducing fluid buildup.

Once she lost the fluid, she underwent another surgery to have a left ventricular assistance device (LVAD) attached to her heart.

The mechanical pump is surgically implanted in the chest and helps the heart pump blood when it’s too weak to do so on its own. These are often used for patients with advanced heart failure. 

Pelletier is now forced to take her vitals every morning and night, remaining dependent on the machine to stay alive.

As the LVAD needs a continuous source of power, Pelletier has to sleep with it plugged into a wall outlet. During the day, she must carry a spare set of rechargeable batteries.

Without these measures, the LVAD could stop functioning properly and lead to serious complications, including infection, bleeding, blood clots and death. 

Pelletier is now living back at home in New Brunswick, traveling into Québec City monthly for appointments. She is waiting to be placed on the list for a heart transplant, building up her health as best she can to ensure she is strong enough for surgery when the time comes.

Reflecting on what her experience was like as she readjusted her life, she said: ‘I slowly began to remember the days I spent in the hospital.’ 

Due to her nearly week-long coma, she explained: ‘I had to relearn how to speak, eat, drink water, sit up on my own and walk again because I lost all ability to do so.

‘Honestly, it was pretty frustrating being restricted from the basic things I was able to do before, but I kept calm in every circumstance and I was determined to get back to where I was prior to open heart surgery.’

Pelletier added that she adapted fairly quickly to her LVAD.

‘At first I felt extremely discouraged, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get used to living with an LVAD, but I held my head up high and took everything day by day, patiently.

‘In the quiet moments, I do hear my LVAD pumping, which sounds like a fax machine, and it was super surreal at first.

‘I hear the hum most at night when I’m lying in bed before I go to sleep, but I have gotten so used to it, it has become a very useful white noise.’

As the young student and personal support worker is currently unable to work or attend school, her friends and family set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to support her with expenses – it has raised $11,405 ($15,862 CAD) at the time of this reporting.

The cost of a LVAD implantation typically ranges from $175,000 to $200,000 (around $243,000 to $278,000 CAD) or more per hospitalization, and the first-year costs can reach $222,460 (almost $310,000 CAD). 

Pelletier said that ‘some days are easier than others’ while she waits for that phone call telling her there’s a heart available.

She told the Daily Mail she has ‘mixed emotions’ about receiving a donor heart, but she knows it’s what’s best for her. 

‘I look forward to continuing my life again,’ she said.

‘And I’m extremely thankful for the support and encouragement I’ve received both online and within the community.

‘It hasn’t been easy to manage my own finances while also adapting to a lifestyle that requires more expensive foods to support my diet, available gas money for my appointments that take four hours to drive to, and my expensive medications that are not covered by my medical insurance.

‘I am very grateful for the money raised so far because it has been a significant help – without it I can’t imagine where I would be financially right now.’