Nadia Montenegro healing after ‘near-death’ experience from heart procedure

Nadia Montenegro. Images: Facebook/Nadia Montenegro Pla

Nadia Montenegro is on the road to recovery after a “near-death experience” during a recent procedure due to her Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome, which she said she was diagnosed with when she was 17.

Montenegro updated her followers about her condition in a video on her Facebook page on Saturday, Nov. 23, reiterating that she just needs to heal after her procedure.

“May mga issue, may mga writeups na lumalabas (Some issues and writeups are coming out). I just want everyone to know, I’m back home. I just need to heal a little,” she began.

Montenegro then shared that she had a heart ablation procedure, which restores one’s heartbeat by making a small cut in the groin before inserting catheters in the veins or arteries. This  would then lead to freezing cells or using small burns to create scars on the heart.

The procedure came after her blood pressure went down, which led to her being rushed to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

“Ablation procedure po ang ginawa sa puso ko. I’m healing medyo bruised up lang po,” she said. “Ang procedure po na ginawa ay hindi po stent, hindi rin po ako na angioplasty, hindi rin po ako na-open heart surgery dahil sobra po ang aking nerve. Kinailangan pong i-cut ‘yun.”

“Ang nangyari lang po noong Friday ay tinakbo ko ang aking sarili… ang aking BP po ay bumaba na ng 60/49 kaya hindi po naging maganda. Ako po ay inilipat ng SL [St. Luke’s] QC muna and then nilipat sa SL (St. Luke’s) BGC,” she added.

(My heart underwent an ablation procedure. I’m healing but I’m a bit bruised up. The procedure I had was neither a stent nor an angioplasty. I didn’t undergo an open heart surgery either because I had too much nerves. What happened was I confined myself because my blood pressure went down. I was taken to St. Luke’s in Quezon City and later transferred to its BGC branch.)

At some point after the surgery, the screen veteran went through a “near-death experience” which was witnessed by her family. “Ako po ay nasa kwarto na and may nangyari pong isang emergency na ang sabi po ay ako’y nawala nang apat na minuto, nangitim nalang po ako, nawala ang aking heartbeat.”

“Hindi ko po alam kung ano ang nangyari, basta paggising ko ay andoon po ang aking nanay at ang aking mga anak at nakita po nila ‘yung nangyari,” she continued.

(I was in a room at the time, and then there was an emergency where I was accordingly gone for four minutes. I had turned blue and my heartbeat was gone for a moment. I didn’t know what happened. I just woke up and my mother and children were there. They saw what happened.)

Montenegro then revealed that she recovered from WPW Syndrome, but still needs to undergo “breathing exercises” to help regulate her heartbeat.

“Ako’y masaya na nalampasan ko ‘to dahil po sa inyong mga dasal at dahil sa napakafaithful nating Diyos. And marami pa po akong gagawin sa buhay… I’ll be back soon. I’ll be working soon. Papalakas lang po. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat, God bless us all and ingatan ang health.”

(I’m happy because I survived this thanks to your prayers and our faithful God. I still have a lot of things to do in life. I’ll be back soon. I’ll be working soon. I just need to make myself strong. Thank you very much to all of you. God bless us all, and take care of your health.)

Montenegro’s heart procedure was first disclosed by her daughter Ynna Asistio on Facebook. In her post she expressed her fears after “almost losing” the actress.