{"id":12028,"date":"2021-09-05T20:56:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T10:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herheart.org\/?p=12028"},"modified":"2021-09-05T20:56:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T10:56:20","slug":"interview-with-her-heart-ambassador-kate-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/interview-with-her-heart-ambassador-kate-mccarthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Her Heart Ambassador Kate McCarthy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Our Founder Dr Linda Worrall-Carter had the pleasure of talking to Kate McCarthy, women\u2019s AFLW player for St Kilda. As a high performing athlete, Kate is living proof that living with a pacemaker does not inhibit your ability to succeed in Women\u2019s AFL. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kate has a heart condition that was first identified when she was 3 years old, and the first signs of this was that she had seizures. After ruling out epilepsy, her doctors found she had a problem with the electrical system of her heart, and after wearing a halter monitor it showed her heart had been stopping multiple times during the night. From then on, she had recurring seizures every couple of years. \u201cWhen I was 12, at school one day in year 7, I had a seizure in class, and another while I was waiting for the ambulance and then another one in the ambulance and it just kept happening \u2013 I think I had about 8 or 9 in that day. They decided to put a pacemaker in the next day.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Having always been active as a child, the twelve weeks recovery were difficult for Kate (and for her parents who were tasked with keeping her inside!), but she progressed to increasing her activities gradually and had no problem going back to her sport afterwards. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kate feels that the pacemaker is something that \u201cdoesn\u2019t affect [her] at all in day-to-day life\u201d to the point where she rarely mentions it and friends are surprised to find out she even has one. Physically she can feel the pacemaker sitting below her skin all the time, but when asked if there are times she notices it \u2013 she says\u201d I don\u2019t ever feel it functioning apart from when it\u2019s being checked, as the doctors can control my heart rate from a wireless monitor across the room\u201d. Kate says \u201cit is a bit weird\u201d when they are testing it and speed up her heart rate and then slow it all the way down. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kate has this checked every year and then monthly as the battery of her pacemaker gets lower. She has had her pacemaker replaced (day surgery) and next time it will include the pacemaker wires. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When asked how she got into Women\u2019s AFL, she talks about how she continued to play touch football, cricket, and athletics, until a friend invited her to an AFL training session and later to join the team for a match. Kate went along expecting to have a \u201cquiet game\u201d but ended up running all over the pitch and needless to say absolutely loved it! It was then that Kate went to see her cardiologist to make sure that she could play a contact sport and there were no reservations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Despite thinking that playing football professionally was \u201ca long way off the radar\u201d for her, Kate succeeded in joining the Queensland Academy and was drafted in the inaugural AFLW league. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">After playing three years for the Brisbane Lions Kate was invited to join St Kilda\u2019s team, who she now plays for. \u201cI am able to play to my strengths and there is nothing I need to avoid doing\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If being a star AFLW star wasn\u2019t enough, Kate also balances working as a teacher. She admits that \u201cit\u2019s not always that easy, but somehow you manage to fit those hours into the day. The school work is very fulfilling and I am always learning from my students, I love the balance of doing both AFL and teaching\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Eating well and staying healthy is also really important. Kate is very mindful of what she eats and limits her alcohol intake (especially before a game!), and also ensures that she has enough fuel for her training. Her philosophy is making sure everything is in moderation and also to enjoy life, so she\u2019s not too \u201cstrict on [herself]\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Outside of the AFL, Kate mentions that her two dogs keep her healthy! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">She also points to the fact that she didn\u2019t become a footballer because she likes to run, but it was the team atmosphere and getting active alongside others that keeps her motivated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When asked for any final comments \u2013 Kate said that her advice to women looking to get into sport or become more active is to join a team sport for the \u201creally supportive environment\u201d it offers. \u201cAt the end of the day whatever exercise you do, you never really regret doing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Her Heart interview with Kate McCarthy, Her Heart Community Ambassador &amp; Dr Linda Worrall-Carter<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Founder Dr Linda Worrall-Carter had the pleasure of talking to Kate McCarthy, women\u2019s AFLW player for St Kilda. As a high performing athlete, Kate is living proof that living with a pacemaker does not inhibit your ability to succeed in Women\u2019s AFL. Kate has a heart condition that was first identified when she was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,20,10],"tags":[166,167,165],"class_list":["post-12028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conditions","category-news","category-real-life-stories","category-womens-health","tag-aflw","tag-heart-condition","tag-pacemaker","pmpro-has-access","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interview with Her Heart Ambassador Kate McCarthy | Her Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/interview-with-her-heart-ambassador-kate-mccarthy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with Her Heart Ambassador Kate McCarthy | Her Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Founder Dr Linda Worrall-Carter had the pleasure of talking to Kate McCarthy, women\u2019s AFLW player for St Kilda. 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