Photography: Carmen Bird.
In January 2025, former Commonwealth Games athlete Meg Luff was a fit and active 50-year-old. But just six weeks later, she celebrated her 51st birthday in hospital, recovering from a shock heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery she never saw coming.
It began with a strange twinge in her neck during a routine, mid-week morning swim. But there was no pain, so the busy single mother and marketing director brushed it off and carried on with her life.
Meg, now 52, explains, “It’s the same old story… Kiwi women, we just keep going, doing everything and often don’t look after ourselves as much as we should.”
That weekend, while doing the washing, she felt a huge pull in her neck, along with nausea and heavy sweating. Something wasn’t right, but Meg didn’t want to overreact or burden emergency services.
Meg recalls, “I was saying to myself, ‘I’m totally overthinking this, but I’m a single mother by choice – my son Fred is a donor baby – so let’s just get checked out. Fred can’t be an orphan.’”
It was a life-saving decision. After an ECG at the accident and emergency clinic, Meg was taken to Auckland Hospital, where further tests showed she had suffered a heart attack and urgently needed triple bypass surgery to treat multiple blocked arteries.
From elite athlete to open-heart patient
“I was so confused and gobsmacked,” she shares.
“A week earlier, I was swimming 5km and walking 40km a week.”
Nine days later, surgeons performed open-heart surgery that was expected to take three hours but lasted almost six. They discovered several arteries were blocked in multiple places, meaning Meg actually required a quintuple bypass. Veins were taken from her left leg and used to reroute blood around the blocked arteries in her heart.
Recovery was far tougher than she expected. A self-described “woman on a mission”, successful executive Meg, who runs Sharpe Marketing, struggled with the reality that healing could take a year or longer. As a former elite athlete – she represented New Zealand in swimming at the 1990 Commonwealth Games – she was determined to bounce back quickly.
The long road to recovery
“At nine weeks, when I couldn’t even walk a few hundred metres around the block, I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” she remembers.
Open-heart surgery patients are at significantly higher risk of depression post-op, which led Meg to seek help from a therapist for the first time in her life as she was struggling with low mood. One year on, Meg still lives with pain and swelling in her left leg, but she’s finally starting to feel more like herself. She now goes to the gym four days a week and swims twice weekly, carefully reminding herself to take things slowly.
No finish line
“There’s no finish line and I don’t have to achieve certain things at a certain time any more,” she says.
Looking back, Meg believes there were warning signs she didn’t recognise. Six weeks before her heart attack, she was diagnosed with diabetes after a routine blood test. She’d been slightly thirstier than usual and exhausted, but put it down to work and caring for her mum, who has terminal cancer.
The hidden risks for women over 50
Meg also experienced pre-eclampsia during pregnancy and was post-menopausal by 46. The Heart Foundation lists both of these, alongside diabetes, as significantly increasing a woman’s risk of heart disease.
“I never knew any of this,” Meg admits.
“You actually have to really stop and listen to your body, especially for women over 50. “If I had sat on the couch and gone, ‘She’ll be right mate, sleep it off,’ instead of going to A&E, Fred could have easily found me dead in bed or I could have died in the swimming pool.”
Taking charge
Since the heart attack, Meg is more vigilant with her health. She has moved to a new GP, Dr Marcia Walker, who she credits with helping her manage both her diabetes and heart health. With that support, Meg has also become passionate about encouraging others to act early.
“I’m really thankful I’ve been able to help people from my own friend network,” she tells.
After Meg spoke out, a close friend discovered she had a 95 percent chance of a heart attack in the next five years and is now taking preventive action.
Meg’s message to other women is simple, “You need to get blood tests annually and just slow down. Life isn’t a race. Let family and friends help you with the juggle.”
A second chance at life
Wearing her surgery scar with pride, Meg’s determined not to waste the second chance she’s been given.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of women over 50 dying,” she explains.
“I’ve survived – not everyone does.”
February is Heart Health Month. To find out more or donate, visit heartfoundation.org.nz
