Emily Pope remembers the exact moment her mortality slapped her face ... hard.
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It was when she found out her heart, which had served her so well in a highly active lifestyle, was mortally compromised.
Now, a decade later, the 49-year-old fitness educator radiated vigor at a sun-bathed Gipps Street sporting fields.
Pope's Sweet Secrets side were involved in the annual Tamworth Touch Tournament, and she was a darting, jinking advertisement for the benefits of healthy living ... and for modern medicine.
The lifelong, accomplished amateur athlete suffers from two electrical heart conditions: sick sinus syndrome and left bundle branch block.
Pope was 38 years old when she had a pacemaker implanted at Tamara Private Hospital in Tamworth.
She said the "unbelievable" revelation that she had the conditions was preceded by her "fainting all the time".
"And I had a few tests and ... boom!"
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Understandably, Pope said the test results were "a bit of a scare".
They were also confusing, given a sporting background that includes state-level gymnastics and swimming as a child, and decades spent competing in triathlons.
"But it hasn't stopped me," she said. "I get a little bit determined, I guess."
"Always look on the bright side," she added. "Even in the worst times, try and find a positive in something."
The Gunnedah-raised mother of one, who has a yearly health checkup, also described herself as positive - "sometimes" - and self-motivated.
She conducts group fitness classes at the 360 Fitness Club, and teaches TAFE classes where students learn to become personal trainers and group fitness instructors.
I was a geriatric mum when I had him.
When asked what her most treasured possession was, Pope immediately replied: "My son."
"I was a geriatric mum when I had him," she said of Lewis, 9, adding that he had brought "joy" and "contentment" to her life.
On the subject of ageing, Pope said: "I suppose there's that conversation about, when do you stop being a little bit competitive?
"If you've got the [competitive] streak, I guess, or the focus, or maybe a little bit of determination, you just keep going. The alternative is not so good."
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