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Hailey Bieber Explains She Had Heart Surgery After a Blood Clot Caused a Mini Stroke

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Photo: Instagram.com/haileybieber

Hailey Bieber gave her fans an update on her health after suffering a mini stroke last month, assuring everyone that she’s doing much better now.

The model shared a new YouTube video on her channel titled “telling my story” in which she explains in her own words the scary experience she’s been through and what she thinks may have caused it. Bieber also explained that she recently underwent a patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure procedure—a surgery to close a hole in her heart—and “It went very smoothly…I’m recovering really well, really fast.”

On March 10, she was rushed to a hospital in the Palm Springs area after experiencing stroke-like symptoms while eating breakfast with her husband, Justin Bieber. Once there, doctors discovered she had a blood clot which had traveled to her brain and caused a transient ischemic attack (TIA), often referred to as a “mini stroke,” although they couldn’t figure out how the blood clot wound up there. “When I went to UCLA, we did more in-depth testing…to find a PFO,” she said, describing a PFO as “a flap between the right and left chambers of the heart,” something which typically closes on its own at birth, but hers did not. Doctors also thought that Hailey’s recent long flights to Paris, positive Covid-19 diagnosis, and the fact that she was on birth control despite being a severe migraine sufferer may have also all played a role in her ministroke.

She continued, “They found that I had a grade five which is the highest grade you can have. Mine was fairly large. What typically happens is the heart will filter the blood clot to the lungs and the lungs will absorb it because they’re so big and they can handle it.” But in Hailey’s case, the blood clot, “escaped through the hole in my heart and travelled to my brain and that is why I suffered a [mini stroke].” She said that she’s “just grateful that they found it,” concluding, “I’m really relieved I will be able to just move on from this really scary situation and live my life.”

In March, the model’s husband also publicly addressed her health scare, telling his audience in a video he later shared on Instagram, “Most of you probably know, or have seen, the news about my wife…but she’s OK. She’s good. She’s strong. But it’s been scary, you know, it’s been really scary. But I know for a fact that God has her in the palm of his hands and it’s a good thing.”

Originally published in Vanityfair.com

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