A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, occurs when blood flow, carrying essential oxygen to a section of the heart muscle, is severely reduced or blocked, typically by a plaque-induced blood clot.
In Feb 2024, my mum suffered a heart attack. In fact, she probably suffered multiple of them. Initial simptomps of the heart attack can be what feels like a mild reflux. She did not go to the hospital immediately, as this would undermine her status of a stern strong woman that can weather any storm. By the time she did go, it was too late. If not acted upon immediatelly, parts of the heart to which the bloodflow is blocked keep dying. For two years, she was in a limbo – was her heart salvagable? Could she live with whatever is left? And if not, what can she do? She was fighting for a recovery that never came. To those of us around her, it was unclear if she would dare to carry on. For a good chunk of 2025, I felt like I was holding a breath. That feeling of tensness that you don’t know you carry until you let it go. Finally, in November 2025 when she was hospitalized for the third time, she proclaimed in front of her medical council that she “ain’t kicking the bucket just yet”.
As I flew in to Zagreb on Christmas eve, 2025, she was transported in a hospital room to have an LVAD fitted. An LVAD is an artificial heart of sorts; a pump implanted in her with leads to the batteries that she’ll carry in her purse at all times. One of here well-wishing messages said: “we all suspected that you had the biggest heart of us all – now we’re certain”.
This series of images documents our encounters since that first heart attack. Various stages of recovery. Her first lap around the neighborhood after she was released from the hospital following the initial hospitalization. (What she didn’t know would be)Her last swim. The new “normal”. The battery checks. The dressing of the wounds. The new life of woman with the bigest heart in the world, and yet no pulse. The new life of my mum.