Having had open-heart surgery and suffered a brain damage in a bike accident, Amy Grant is considering her health; both incidents occurred four years ago.
63-year-old “Baby, Baby” singer said her latest health concerns had “changed the way I look at life.”
After surgery in 2020, Grant started a campaign for the American Heart Association.
“I always pictured myself thriving right into my nineties. Living to be 94 was my great-grandmother. She told People in an interview posted on Monday that she was keen in the intellect. “To realize something can happen that you never see coming and it could be over…everything became more precious.”
Grant said she “always saw me living well into my nineties,” until she started to have cardiac problems. Living to be 94, was my great-grandmother. She was keen in the thinking.
“To realize something could happen that you never see approaching and it could be over.”Everything became more valuable, Grant said.
The cardiac issue of the Grammy winner was only found out after her 67-year-old husband, singer Vince Gill, was having shortness of breath and a specialist advised she be tested.
Grant stated, “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.'”
The extra testing revealed the “Every Heartbeat” singer had PAPVR (partial anomalous pulmonary venous return), a rare condition whereby some of the blood veins in the lungs attach to the incorrect position in the heart. According to the Mayo Clinic, having this disorder causes the heart to work extra and can cause lung infections, dyspnea, and other major problems.
Grant remarked she had a “ticking time bomb in my chest.”
She stated before she found her diagnosis, “I just learned to push through because that’s what women do.” Among those women, “I was one of those who seemed to be fine. I’m alright. I am the Energizer Bunny, and then I would have simply died. Nor am I ready to die.
Grant began swimming following her open-heart surgery and today claims she “in the best shape I had been in in a long time, maybe 20 years.”
Her heart disease has not, however, been her only health concern.
Grant, riding her bike in Nashville in July 2022, struck a pothole and suffered a brain injury even donning her helmet. She developed months of residual memory problems following the incident.
“What if I’m never all the way back?” one might ask. For my processing was so slow. I could be in the room among people, but I had no comeback,” she said.
The singer notes that her memory has gotten better but writes “everything on a calendar.”
She is, however, lightening the circumstances by employing comedy.
Still, I believe that whatever memory problems I have are age appropriate. I am going to be sixty-four. I so simply say, “I’m right on time.” Grant discussed.
Her health problems have changed her priorities.