Kaitaia woman running half marathon to support dad after heart attacks

Kaitaia's Adele Jecentho is running the half marathon at the Auckland Marathon next month in support of her father, who had two heart attacks this year.

When Kaitaia woman Adele Jecentho runs her eighth half marathon next month she has extra reason to cross the finish line - she's running to support her dad, who has had two heart attacks this year.

This October Jecentho with be running a half marathon as a Heart Foundation Heart Racer, raising money in the ASB Auckland Marathon, in support of her dad Warren Jecentho. This will be the eighth half marathon Adele has completed, after she caught the "running bug" in 2016.

"One day I was walking a fun run with my mum and she said to me, 'let's run' and I said, 'don't be daft, I don't run!' Now three years later I've run two half marathons this year and I've got seven more to go – talk about catching the bug."

When she was planning to run in this year's ASB Auckland Marathon, she made the decision to run for the Heart Foundation, hoping to build awareness of heart disease, following her father's heart attacks earlier this year.

Dad Warren had been experiencing ongoing chest pains one day while on their farm in Kaitaia. When he didn't feel any better after a lie-down, he told his partner how he was feeling and they drove to Kaitaia Hospital, where it was confirmed he'd had a heart attack.

Kaitaia's Adele Jecentho with dad Warren Jecentho. Adele is running the half marathon at the Auckland Marathon next month after her father had two heart attacks this year.

While in hospital overnight, Warren then suffered a second heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.

"At about 3am they rang my stepmum and told her to go back in because they couldn't
revive him. He'd had a massive heart attack while he was in hospital," Jecentho said.

After Warren was revived, he was airlifted to Auckland Hospital for further treatment.

"I woke up one morning and my stepmum was ringing me off Dad's phone. She said 'Dad's had a heart attack and he's going to Auckland for some test so you need to get to
the hospital'," she said.

"By the time I got to him in Auckland and he'd already had a stent put in. It's scary, one minute he's walking around fine and the next minute he's in a chopper after having a heart attack. It can happen to anyone."

Following her dad's heart attack, heart health has become an important topic for her.

"I didn't really know anything about heart disease. We all think that a heart attack is clutching your chest and dropping to the ground, like it's this massive thing, you know? But when I said to Dad afterwards 'What took you so long to say something?' he said it was just like electrical currents, like 'spasms', he didn't feel like he was having a heart attack."

She's hoping to raise awareness of heart disease and get the message out there that it can happen to anyone.

"I think it's important to educate people and get the message out there. It affects so many of us. I've lost two grandparents to heart disease and it turns out it is quite common in my family."

Following Warren's heart attacks, Adele says her dad is now "back to his old self".

"Dad has gone back to being Dad. Before the heart attack he wasn't feeling too good and he put it down to ageing. But now that he's had the stents put in he's feeling so much better, it's actually given him a new lease on life."

Adele says her dad's been supporting her every step of the way on her Heart Racer journey.