Latest news with #ValerieWells
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
County Durham women first in North East to have heart procedure
A patient who was one of a region's first to have a new heart procedure says it helped her get her life Wells, from Peterlee, and Lindel Carre, from Durham, were the first in north-east England to receive a tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), at Middlesbrough's James Cook University is designed to treat tricuspid regurgitation, a condition where one of the heart's valves becomes leaky, causing fatigue, leg swelling, and breathlessness. Ms Wells said she felt she "didn't have a life" before the procedure but she "didn't think that way now – that's the difference it's made to me". The retired nurse previously had a successful mitral valve replacement using open heart surgery in 2021. However, she began experiencing increasing breathlessness in recent years."Leading up to Christmas, I was wrapping presents with family, and I was thinking 'this is the last time I'm going to be doing this'," she said."I could barely walk three or four steps without having to stop to get my breath back." Tricuspid regurgitation is usually difficult to manage with medication alone and open heart surgery can be too high risk for older is a safer alternative and involves inserting a small clip through a vein in the groin to reduce the leak in the valve. 'Incredibly rewarding' Ms Wells and Ms Carre had the procedure on 6 Carre, 83, said she saw a lot of improvements almost straight retired teacher had been suffering with the heaviness of her legs caused by her worsening valve condition. "I have much more energy, no breathlessness, and I can drive further than I could before – I'm more confident and more independent," she procedures were performed by the hospital's TEER team, led by cardiology consultants Paul Williams, Seth Vijayan and Richard Williams said it was "incredibly rewarding" to see patients experience such an improvement in their quality of life. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bosque Farms residents return home after fire
BOSQUE FARMS, N.M. (KRQE) – People are returning to their homes near Bosque Farms, after strong winds fueled a wildfire that burned across private property and the Bosque Thursday night. While the fire is under control now, neighbors say what happened has them nervous about the dry season. Story continues below Podcast: What Will Voters Do With $1.5 Million? Entertainment: These movies were filmed in Las Cruces. Have you seen them? Crime: ABQ man charged federally for arson attacks at Tesla, Republican Party headquarters Weird: Peacocks spotted in Albuquerque neighborhoods. Where did they come from? The New Mexico Forestry Division said the Rio Grande Fire is technically 10% contained, but crews are mainly just mopping up hot spots on Friday. Neighbors say the fire got big, quickly Thursday night. 'We could see the smoke very plainly…And with the fire trucks around, it was kind of a surreal look,' said Valerie Wells, Bosque Farms resident. It's the first major wildfire in the metro this season, threatening homes in Bosque Farms. Living close to where it happened, Valerie Wells said her mother was home alone when she got the alarming call that evacuations were underway. 'Hoping that we have a home to come back to and hoping that everybody that's affected by this is safe and okay,' said Wells. The Valencia County Fire Department said it sparked on the west side of the Bosque, then jumped the river, where it moved toward private homes. The New Mexico Forestry Division is now overseeing the investigation and said they don't know what caused it, but it quickly burned around 60 acres. At least three structures were damaged. 'The winds yesterday were large and last night they calmed down a little bit, but they were still persistent enough that we left, crews were working the fire all night,' said George Ducker, New Mexico Forestry Division spokesperson. With wind whipping the fire quickly, some people between Lillie Road north to Truchas Lane were forced to evacuate for a short time overnight. Although evacuations have all been lifted, police are asking people to be mindful of fire crews. 'If they don't need to go in there right now because there's still a large fire activity in there, fire crews are still in there, they're still processing, they're still looking for hot spots,' said Chief Andrew Owen, Bosque Farms Police Department. The Forestry Division said they have seen the number of fires nearly double from this time last year, saying that they've seen about 300 fire starts so far in 2025. Crews are hoping that possible rain in the area could help their efforts on Saturday. They're urging neighbors to be mindful, though, as the winds have picked up again on Friday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
