American Heart Association following her surgery in 2020.“I always saw myself living well into my nineties. My great-grandmother lived to be 94.
She was sharp in the mind,” she told People in an interview published on Monday. “To realize something can happen that you never see coming, and it could be over…everything became more precious.”Grant shared that before she discovered her heart issues, she “always saw myself living well into my nineties.
My great-grandmother lived to be 94. She was sharp in the mind.” “To realize something can happen that you never see coming, and it could be over…everything became more precious,” Grant continued.The Grammy winner’s heart problem was only discovered after a doctor suggested she be tested when her husband, singer Vince Gill, 67, was experiencing shortness of breath. “After giving Vince the ‘great’ news, ‘You’re just fat and out of shape’ — and Vince said, ‘Tell me something I don’t know!’ — the doctor looked at me and said, ‘I want to see you,'” Grant explained.The additional testing showed the “Every Heartbeat” singer had PAPVR (partial anomalous pulmonary venous return), a rare defect in which some of the lungs’ blood vessels attach to the wrong place in the heart.
Having this condition means the heart has to work overtime, and it can lead to lung infections, breathing trouble and other serious issues, per the Mayo Clinic.Grant said she had a “ticking time bomb in my chest.” “I just learned to push through because that’s what women do,” she said before she learned her diagnosis. “I was one of those women who’s like, ‘I’m fine.