A hug from her mum saved 15-year-old Krish Waje's life when Neeta heard something odd - and insisted she saw a cardiologist. Krish was staying at her older sister’s flat with her mum and had spent the night on a makeshift bed on the living room floor.
Krish had been feeling fine. But when mum Neeta reached out to cuddle her she realised that something was very wrong. “This hug was a longer hug than usual, she held me close, and then she put her head on my chest and said my heartbeat sounded odd,” Krish said.
“She said it sounded like a faint, whooshing noise between heartbeats. I didn’t even notice it myself, but she had this instinct, it was like a sixth sense. She picked up on something no one else did and said we should get it checked out. My mum is a doctor, but I didn’t think too much about it and at first I dismissed it. I was a teenager and thought, ‘This can’t be serious. I feel fine’. But she immediately got me an appointment to see the cardiologist and I did as I was told, thinking that I would just do one check up and it'll all be clear and it'll be over.”
The appointment revealed Krish had a large hole in her heart and the organ was twice the size it should have been. She was scheduled for urgent open heart surgery and was told without it, she would not make it to her thirties.
“The surgery took a day, though it felt like a lifetime for my family. I was in hospital for almost two weeks, hooked up to wires and monitors,” Krish, now 26, said. “The first few days were excruciating—I could feel every movement in my chest, and I had to relearn how to breathe unassisted.
“After the surgery while I was in hospital, every morning at 5am they would come and take my blood to make sure I was doing okay. Afterwards, walking was difficult, eating was difficult - everything was difficult and I had to take a month off school and go to rehab. I got back to my normal life very slowly,” Krish said.
“Looking back, I had been getting tired really quickly and felt out of breath doing normal activities, but I brushed it off as nothing. I didn’t realise those were red flags. I used to also play netball and dance and I was very clearly not as fit as everyone else and after this diagnosis it all made sense. I tried to be brave but the pain was excruciating. I was slightly scared yes, but I knew I had incredible surgeons and doctors taking care of me. All my teachers , workmates and school mates were so supportive and visited me while I was in hospital which helped me get through the bleak times.”
Krish did well in school and got a great job, but her formative experience made her realise she didn't want to waste her time climbing the corporate ladder, and she has since set up her own business Lunaire, with a mission to replace single-use candles. Krish is healthier and stronger than she’s ever been, although she has annual checkups with her cardiologist. Her heart has returned to its normal size and she is eternally grateful to her mum who saved her life.
Krish said: "If she hadn’t trusted her gut and insisted I get checked, I don’t know what would’ve happened. I feel incredibly lucky. The experience gave me a new perspective on life. It taught me that life is short, and you can’t waste a second of it."
