A heart-to-heart chat ...

I remember the moment like it just happened yesterday. I was stretched out on the sofa, iPad in hand, reading everything I could find about women and heart health.

In all honesty, I thought I knew a lot about heart disease, especially considering my family history. But, the first thing I learned after my heart attack at the age of 50 was that pretty much everything I knew on the subject was from a man’s perspective.

As is my nature, I dove into research and was astonished to learn that I had missed warning sign after warning sign for months. Women are often accused of ignoring these signs but I can tell you firsthand that, after four years of speaking to women on the subject, they aren’t ignoring them … they still don’t recognize them. And, when they do, these symptoms are easily mistaken for other issues and we can be misdiagnosed.

When I read that 90% of women already have one or more risk factors for heart disease, that 42% women my age who have a heart attack don’t live past one year, or that 80% of women who have a heart attack before the age of 65 don’t survive the first one, I knew this message had to be shared. Too many women were asking me the same questions. Too many of us didn’t know the answers.

The sentence that I read that day that changed my life and set us on this mission? The fact that 80% of heart disease can be prevented or managed! It is this message of hope that is at the heart of all we do!

Our mission is to inspire and enable women and their loved ones to take action that prevents heart attack, stroke and premature death. We need more women to help us spread this message!