Jennie Garthis speaking from the heart about her heart health.
Garth opened up exclusively to PEOPLE about the day-to-day impact of her leaky heart valve, which she firstwent public with in 2009.
“It’s not something that affects me on the daily,” theBeverly Hills, 90210actress tells PEOPLE. “It’s just something that’s good to know about your heart if you’ve got something going on in there.”
Back in 2009, Garth first revealed details surrounding her leaky valve toAccess Hollywood.
“It’s your connection to your heart … your artery, the main artery that goes to your heart,” she said. “It sort of flutters open and shut sort of a thing, so you … it’s weird because sometimes when I’m resting I can feel a little weird fluttering.”
And though she is able to lead a normal and active life, she is aware that trouble could arise as she ages.
“Down the road it’s something that could get more complicated or it could not,” she explained. “People have had valve replacements and that kind of thing… but I’m prepared, that’s the key.”
Garth, 47, revealed that she first visited a cardiologist when she turned 30, “certain that they would give me a clean bill of health.”
When she learned that she had a leaky heart valve she was shocked but thankful for the results given her family’shistory with heart disease.
“I was actually kind of shocked to hear that I had [a leaky valve],” she shares, “but also relieved to know that I have it so that I could be more educated about my own health moving forward.”
Jennie Garth.Michael tran/AFP/Getty
“You can use the results from this test to make medical decisions,” she shares. “It’s something you can really utilize in your life going forward.”
Invitae offers genetic testing in a broad range of clinical areas and is running a #WhoHoldsYourHeart campaign through the end of the month: The company will donate $10 to the American Heart Association for every post users share on Instagram with the company tagged along with #WhoHoldsYourHeart.
“The #WhoHoldsYourHeart campaign is so great because it’s one of those simple calls to action,” Garth shares.
So who holds her own heart? Garth says that it is her three daughters with ex-husbandPeter Facinelli.
“I stay healthy for them,” she says. “I know that they need me now more than ever.”
She adds, “You always think some day your job as a mom will be done but it never is. So I definitely want to stay healthy for them and be able to be in their lives forever.”
“I think that they really do watch what we do as parents,” she says, adding that she stocks “only healthy food options in the house” and that “meal planning and prep is something that we all do together.”
Garth says it is important to “encourage people to take control of their own heart health and their own health in general” and “not wait for somebody else to come in and save the day because that’s not going to happen.”
She adds: “You have to take care of yourself.”
source: people.com
