Martin – also known as Fast Heart Mart – was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) at the age of 17 after six years of searching for answers. Now, he’s a professional musician who wants others with LQTS to know that this genetic diagnosis “doesn’t mean the end” – and that it’s super important to be an advocate for your health and treatment plan.

Martin experienced his first symptom of LQTS at just eleven years old. He stood up after eating a bowl of cereal – and woke up on the floor. “It was a very traumatic experience,” he says. “I felt terrible after – very sick.”

His parents took him to the doctor, but they couldn’t fig   ure out what had caused this episode. His family was on high alert because they’d experienced several recent young deaths in the family – a 12-year-old cousin had recently died while on his paper route, and a 31-year-old aunt passed away when a phone call woke her up from sleep.

Martin had another episode the following year – but still, doctors couldn’t figure out his diagnosis. “A psychologist told me and my parents that they thought I had an anxiety disorder,” he says. “I started channeling my anxiety through music by playing the guitar, and that really helped – until I was seventeen years old.”

At seventeen, Martin was getting ready to take his senior class picture. He stood up from the desk, went into the hallway, and passed out. This episode knocked out his two front teeth. “There was blood everywhere, and I was out for quite a while – people thought I’d died,” he says. “Luckily someone knew CPR and was able to revive me.”

This time, doctors referred Martin and his family to a cardiologist, who detected Long QT Syndrome during a stress test. An electrophysiologist confirmed his diagnosis. “It was devastating, because I was planning to go into the military, because I never liked school” he says. “and I received a letter saying that I was disqualified for the military due to my LQTS – this was back in 1994. They also put an ICD in my abdomen, which made things even worse, because I knew I would need to get medical insurance somehow.”

Martin looks back on this period as one of the toughest in his life. “I had to learn to be forgiving to myself,” he says. As he figured out next steps, he hiked the Appalachian Trail with a friend who’d also experienced a recent traumatic event; and during this hike, he was given the trail name Fast Heart Mart.

Afterwards, he attended college and started busking to make money. He was hired off the street to become a guitar player for a local café, launching his career as a professional musician. “Music has healed me and helped keep me sane,” he says.

In 2000, he took a bad fall while skateboarding. “Even though it was a hard fall, I didn’t think anything of it – I’d taken spills while skateboarding before,” he says. But a few days later, while walking his dog, his ICD started shocking him and wouldn’t stop. “It shocked me seven times – and then started shocking me when I was mountain biking,” he says. Doctors thought he had broken a lead during his fall; he would need to have a lead extraction and replacement – a risky surgery in 2000. During the surgery, he lost lots of blood, leading to a long recovery.

“I was back down at the bottom,” he says. “I developed a panic disorder. Psychologists didn’t know how to help, because there was a concrete reason for my panic – a device in my chest, that before it was fixed, was malfunctioning and shocking me unnecessarily. In 2000, the only people I knew with ICDs were older. I felt like giving up. And it’s hard when medical professionals look at you like they don’t know what to do.”

Since this incident, Fast Heart Mart has learned to deal with the anxiety of LQTS and his ICD through outdoor activities like hiking and through his music. “I’ve learned my limits and my boundaries,” he says. “I can do all of the activities I love – I just have to listen to my body and not take it too far. I run regularly, but not too fast or long. I do pull ups, push ups etc. but not to the extreme.”

Martin was on beta blockers from 1994-2003, but couldn’t tolerate them – they made him feel “sweaty and not myself.” He worked with his doctor to go off of beta blockers, and he still has his ICD. His latest lead replacement was in 2023.

“After my surgery, I advocated for the ICD settings to be exactly the same as my previous ICD,” he says. “It’s important with this condition to stand up for yourself and what your body can tolerate. Work with your team to make sure that your care plan works for your lifestyle. Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself.”

For those who’ve just been diagnosed, Fast Heart Mart wants them to know that they can live a normal, full life.

“I’ve been at the bottom before – I’ve been in despair with this heart condition, especially when I was really young. The panic was so bad sometimes I didn’t think I would ever be able to go out in the world again,” he says. “But look at me now – I’m a touring musician who goes all over the globe”.