Explainer Story — Fixing a Broken Heart
I've always wanted to understand what exactly my heart condition that I had open heart surgery for was. But, it's a rare condition, and not a lot has been written about it. So, I decided I was going to be the one to explain what exactly an ALVT is and what the surgical process for fixing one is.
A bit more information behind this piece
When writing this explainer article, I wanted to take this complex medical process and explain it in simple terms to help readers understand it. Science papers are typically very boring, factual, and full of terms most people wouldn't understand. Since this is about my personal surgery, I wanted to add that story element to help bring the process to life and make the read more interesting — so it read more like a story than a paper that's teaching you something.
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Before writing this piece, I didn't have a full understanding of what an ALVT was or what the process was for fixing one. Since it's a rare condition, the only information about it is from doctors for other doctors. I had a copy of a medical letter that was written from my surgeon at the hospital in Edmonton to my doctors back in Winnipeg explaining the details behind the surgery, so I dissected it and researched terms and processes I didn't understand so I could rewrite it in a way that made more sense to me and anyone else who may read it. I also added a diagram of the human heart that I created so people could see the sections of the heart I refer to throughout the story, plus some extra fun facts about the human heart to make it more interesting and engaging.
Results:
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​This article was written in my first semester of CreComm, and it was one of the first pieces I felt proud of. After a semester of harshly graded assignments that left me feeling unsure of my abilities, I received positive feedback and a rare A on my article. This piece made me realize I might actually be good at this. Three semesters later, I do see room for improvement on this piece, which tells me my writing and editing skills have only gotten stronger.