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8 Famous People Who Use Pacemakers

Pacemakers are medical devices that are used to treat arrhythmias. Arrhythmias in other words describes, the heart beating so fast,  too slow, or even having irregular breathing rates, therefore this pacemaker sends electrical pulses to the heart to help have a normal breathing rate. Other than breathing they help the heart chambers beat efficiently so that the heart can pump the blood throughout the body.

There are temporary and permanent pacemakers depending on what the doctor has prescribed. This modern technology has really helped in saving the lives of people especially those suffering from cardio vascular diseases hence reducing the mortality cases. Pacemakers reduce the cases of death as health practitioners can monitor the heart rates of the patients and regulate their heartbeat. In this article, I am going to discuss some of the people who use pacemakers and are still alive and doing well.

1. Howie Mandel

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Howie is a great Canadian comedian and also an actor. He is greatly known for having voiced in the film Gremlins in 1984 and Gremlins 2 a character called Gizmo. He also gained fame after voicing and starring in a children’s cartoon called Bobby’s World. His genre of comedy includes Observation and improvisation comedy.

Howie is one of the people who use pacemakers. He has some heart problems and so he was advised by the doctors to use and it will help him. He says that he has undergone cardioversion four times and is on everyday medication.

Read also the Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Howie Mandel.

2. Julie Bowen

Julie Bowen is an American actress, popularly known for starring in the ABC sitcom Modern Family as Claire Dunphy from 2009 to 2020. The series made her receive six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Other successful series she starred in include the NBC medical drama series ER (1998–1999), the ABC legal drama series Boston Legal (2005–2007), the ABC drama series Lost (2005–2007), and the NBC comedy series Ed (2000–2004).

Julie uses pacemakers to help with her heartbeat. She suffers from a cardiovascular condition known as bradycardia, a slow resting heart rate below normal. Due to her condition, Julie had a pacemaker implanted, in her early twenties.

3. Sir Elton John

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Sir Elton John is a British singer, pianist, and composer. After leaving school, he started his music career immediately. Back in the 1970s, John was the biggest music star, he became famous after lyricist Bernie Taupin and he wrote many songs which he performed and recorded. John has been active in charity work had has raised millions of pounds for people living with HIV and AIDS through his foundation Elton John Aids Foundation.

After Elton found out he needed a pacemaker due to irregular heartbeat he says he was very frustrated. He eventually had surgery in the summer of 1999 and a pacemaker implanted.

Here are the Top 10 Facts about Elton John.

4. Sir David Attenborough

The English broadcaster, biologist, and author, Sir David Attenborough uses a pacemaker to help his heart function. He had a pacemaker installed on June 2013 and has it to date.

David became the senior manager at the BBC, after serving as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. He has won several awards to date such as the Cherry Kearton Medal and Award (1972), Knight Bachelor (1985), International Cosmos Prize (2000), José Vasconcelos World Award of Education (2004), and Princess of Asturias Award (2009) among others.

Find more about the Top 10 Sensational Facts about Sir David Attenborough.

5. Mark Fredrick Farner

Mark Fredrick Farner is an American musician. He founded the hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad in 1969 and is the original lead singer and lead guitarist for the band. In 1969, he co-founded a rock band, the Grand Funk Railroad, together with Don Brewer, and Mel Schacher.

The musician struggled with heart problems for eight years before he had a pacemaker implanted on October 22, 2012. He is among the people we know who use Pacemakers to date.

6. Max Page

Max Page is a young actor, at the age of six he appeared in ‘Darth Vader’ which aired during the 2011 Super Bowl and was his first national commercial. Darth Vader was his breakthrough play and made him popular.

Max Page has a heart disorder known as Tetralogy of Fallot, at the age of three months old, Max had a life-saving surgery, and soon after the surgery, a pacemaker was implanted to treat the heart disorder.

7. Anja Andersen

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Anja Andersen is a former Danish team handball player and a current coach. She is widely known as one of the best female handballs of all time. She was lucky to be named IHF World Player of the Year in 1997.

 She stopped playing handball due to her heart defect in 1999. A pacemaker was implanted in her after several fainting spells during playing. After she stopped playing due to her health issue, she started coaching the Danish Women’s Handball League club Slagelse. He has coached other teams such as FCK HÃ¥ndbold in 2008, the national team of Serbia in 2006, and Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea in 2011.

8. Stale Solbakken

Stale Solbakken is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player. Stale played for several clubs, he joined the English Premier League club, Wimbledon Football Club in October 1997. He played six league games for Wimbledon and won one goal against West Ham United.

After he fell out with the manager of Wimbledon, Stale was sold to the Aalborg BK in March 1998 and became the team captain. In the team, he played 79 games and scored 13 goals in the Danish Superliga.

Later in 2000, he moved to Danish rivals Copenhagen and became a regular player. He helped the team big time by pushing them to the top of the table. However, he was unable to complete the season due to a heart attack in 2001. The club doctor, Frank Odgaard attended to him and he was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. He survived the episode and he now has a Pacemaker.