Come join Aortic Hope as they feature guest speaker, Gareth Owens from Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland and also the Global Think Aorta Campaign Lead.
Tuesday, September 10th at 3pm EST on AHTV YouTube channel:
Gareth will be sharing with the community his passion and work with ADAUKI and TA as well as information about some upcoming initiatives that so many other organizations will be participating in.
Gareth leads the global THINK AORTA campaign, focused on saving lives in acute Aortic Dissection around the world. He is also Chair of Trustees at the national patient charity Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland, which has around 1.500 members affected by aortic dissection and plays a leading role in raising awareness and advocating for improved care for patients nationally.
Gareth’s father, Harold Owens, had Marfan syndrome and died from an Aortic Dissection aged 49, when Gareth was just 11 years old. Gareth inherited Marfan syndrome from his father. In 2016, Gareth himself suffered an acute Aortic Dissection, caused by his inherited Marfan syndrome. As a result of prompt diagnosis via an immediate CT scan and rapid transfer to a specialist Aortic centre for surgery, his life was saved and his Aorta surgically repaired.
Gareth recognises that he was very fortunate, as a patient, to experience what he calls the ‘happy path’ in the hands of Barts Health NHS Trust in London, after he suffered an acute Aortic Dissection. Since discovering that most patients are not so fortunate, he has made it his mission, through the work of the charity and THINK AORTA, to support affected patients and their families, to raise awareness of Aortic Dissection, to educate healthcare professionals and to drive change in national healthcare systems in order to improve diagnosis, care and outcomes in acute Aortic Dissection.
Gareth believes passionately that every one of the half a million people a year globally who suffer an acute aortic dissection deserves to have access to the high standard of life-saving diagnosis, care and treatment that he was fortunate enough to receive.
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