Chad Pelley is an author, songwriter and journalist whose debut novel, Away From Everywhere, has been adapted into a film now making the festival rounds. But he might never have become the celebrated artist he is today.
The 36-year-old resident of St. John’s has arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a rare heart disorder prevalent in Newfoundland and Labrador where the first and only symptom is often a fatal heart attack. Thanks to genome sequencing that identified the gene responsible for ARVC, Pelley was able to learn through a blood test that he has the disorder.