The family of a “healthy” 32-year-old woman who suffered a shocking death have urged young Britons to be persistent with doctors, after the tragic Manchester woman’s symptoms were dismissed as “simple stress”.
Rhian Griffiths, who lived in Sale, Manchester, had suffered from shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat for two and a half years.
But doctors, including an emergency room doctor, consistently said her problems were stress-related, her sister said. Ffion Griffiths-Armstrong, 31 years old.
In March 2023, hours after telling her family that her heart was “not working properly”, the surveyor’s mother found her unconscious after suffering cardiac arrest.
Rhian Griffiths, who lived in Sale, Manchester, was fit and healthy but in September 2020 she suddenly began to suffer from shortness of breath and heart palpitations, which turned out to be the sign of an underlying heart condition.
Following her death, the family was told that Ms Griffiths was suffering from an undiagnosed heart complication called myocarditis, which can weaken the heart muscle and increase the risk of life-threatening complications including heart attack and stroke.
Now, Ms Griffiths-Armstrong is urging people not to ignore any worrying symptoms and to press on for a diagnosis.
Ms Griffiths first experienced palpitations after contracting Covid in September 2020 and sought help at her local emergency department, according to her sister.
“He had all the tests done but was discharged the next day and was fine,” Griffiths-Armstrong said.
‘Then, in March of the following year, she received the Covid vaccine and returned to the hospital the next day with the same problem.
‘They didn’t detect anything in the tests and thought the palpitations could be related to stress.
‘Then in March 2023, he messaged us all to tell us that his heart was failing again and he was checking into the hospital.
Despite attending A&E, Ms Griffiths (right) was discharged a day later and told her palpitations could be “stress-related”, said Ffion Griffiths-Armstrong (pictured left).
Over the course of two and a half years, subsequent visits again attributed the measurement expert’s symptoms to stress. However, hours after she told her family in March 2023 that her heart was “failing again” and assured them “not to panic,” her mother found her unconscious after suffering cardiac arrest.
“He was texting us all day and seemed perfectly fine. He had been feeling poorly all week.
‘The previous Saturday we had all gone out for a drink together and had a great time.’
During this third visit, Ms Griffiths remained in hospital overnight for monitoring. But at 2am the next morning, Ms Griffiths-Armstrong received a call from her mother urging her to come to the hospital, adding that her sister was unresponsive.
Rhian Griffiths died a few hours later.
Ms Griffiths-Armstrong added: “I think it was a total shock for the staff on the ward as well. I don’t think they knew how serious it was. They had no idea what had happened.
“An autopsy later revealed that Rhian died of acute myocarditis. Signs of the disease can be detected with tests.
‘I don’t know if they didn’t see it as a warning sign because Rhian was fit and healthy and recovered very well from the episodes of heart palpitations.
We believe that the fact that he contracted Covid unknowingly had that effect on his heart. We are still very confused by all this and we want answers.
Tragically, his family later learned that Griffiths had an undiagnosed heart complication, myocarditis, which can weaken the heart muscle. Pictured: Griffiths in hospital after suffering heart palpitations.
“You don’t expect this to happen to a fit, healthy 32-year-old. She did everything right, so it’s frustrating that she didn’t notice. From what I’ve read, myocarditis is preventable and treatable.
“It makes us very angry that her symptoms were simply dismissed as stress. She was not taken seriously.”
Myocarditis often follows a virus. It is caused by an overreaction of the body’s immune system to an infection, leading to inflammation that can remain in the heart even after the virus is gone.
Although some patients have no symptoms, in others it can cause chest pain, palpitations and difficulty breathing.
But in rare cases, if the inflammation is severe, myocarditis can scar the heart muscle, which can affect the heart’s electrical activity and how effectively blood is pumped through the body, potentially triggering a heart attack.
The UK’s drug watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), says studies show the risk of myocarditis from contracting the virus itself has been estimated at around 1,500 cases per million patients.
Rare cases of myocarditis have been reported after the Covid vaccine, and cases are thought to be more common in young men under the age of 25.
According to the MHRA, there were 10 reports per million doses of myocarditis following vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNTech monovalent vaccine.
This figure stood at 14 per million doses for Moderna’s monovalent vaccine.
The vast majority of cases of vaccine-induced myocarditis are mild, as shown by real-world evidence.
Many resolve on their own, and those under 40 have not been routinely invited to receive vaccines since 2021 during the Omicron wave.
Cardiologists have repeatedly insisted that the vaccine has not caused an increase in cardiovascular health problems.
Now, Ms Griffiths-Armstrong wants to raise awareness of the condition. and keeping the memory of her late sister alive by running 32 marathons in 32 days for the British Heart Foundation.
His GoFundMe has already raised almost £2,000 since its launch last month.
She said: ‘Rhian was the most lovely, cheerful and energetic person. She always had a smile on her face. She had a great zest for life and had so much more to give.
“We did everything together so my world fell apart when she died. She missed key moments in her life, like my wedding. And we are all mourning her life – she loved her job and her life in Manchester.
“Even today I don’t think I’ve fully accepted it. It’s not something your parents have to go through, it’s not normal in life. I just don’t want people to forget her because she was an incredible person.”