Rare heart condition fails to dull schoolboy's joie de vivre

The pacemaker allows Matthew Munro to play his favourite sports. Picture / Greg bowker

Matthew Munro leads the life of any 9-year-old: soccer and cricket practice, weekly swimming sessions and even the odd game of volleyball. But not many 9-year-olds have had two heart operations.

A vertical scar runs almost the length of his torso, and the outline of a pacemaker is obvious on the left side of his abdomen just below the ribcage.

A smaller scar just under his collarbone is a reminder of where his old pacemaker sat, put in when he was 2.

Matthew has sick sinus syndrome, a relatively rare heart condition caused by a malfunction of the sinus node, the heart's natural pacemaker. The syndrome causes abnormal heart rhythms. At random times the heart is liable to beat too fast or too slow.

But that has not held Matthew back, said his father, Alistair.

"Apart from a short spell for four months, his whole life has been asymptomatic. He's been running around like a normal kid."

Matthew's disorder was diagnosed when he was 2. His tiny heart would stop beating for up to six seconds at a time when he was asleep. "It was just that intuition there was something not quite right," said mother Tracy.

The first pacemaker allowed Matthew to grow up doing the things his peers did, but last December he began suffering persistent headaches, a symptom of a heart beating too fast. He was put on beta-blockers, but they started to slow his heart too much.

The first pacemaker could not keep his heart rate up, and a replacement was inserted in August.

Matthew is back to his old self now, and has returned to his favourite sports, resuming his midfield position in soccer and bowling on the Howick-Pakuranga Year 4 and 5 cricket team.

He will, in all likelihood, live a normal adulthood - although he may need a new pacemaker at some stage.

Mr Munro hopes that will happen after the difficult teenage years.

Matthew is comfortable with his scars, taking off his shirt for swimming without a problem. His peers ask to see them, and he readily obliges.

Matthew is hoping for a PlayStation Portable this Christmas, and will head north with his parents and sister Sarah, 12, for a camping trip - something he's missed only once.

Then it's off to Taupo for Camp Brave Heart, an annual gathering arranged by Heart Children NZ, and a visit to grandparents in Wellington.

He wants to be a policeman when he grows up.