I am 39 years old. On October 30, 2001, I woke up early in the morning to get ready for work. I remember not feeling real well, and I was deciding if I was going to go to work or not. I sat on my couch for a few minutes and just started breathing in and out. At that time, I felt sick to my stomach and felt something in my chest drop. I started feeling a little better, so I finished getting ready for work.

As the morning went on at work, I started to feel sick again. I felt constipated and thought that if I went to the bathroom, maybe I would feel better. I never felt any pain in my chest at all. My head felt kind of tingly.

When I finally came out of the bathroom, I told my coworkers that I was not feeling very well and I needed to go home.

They all looked at me and told me I was "the color of the cement" and needed to see a doctor. As a coworker was driving me to my doctor’s office, I told her I thought I was having a panic attack. I had been under a lot of stress, so I took a cigarette and lit it thinking that would help calm me down. I was wrong. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I started to sweat heavily and asked my coworker to put the air on. Within 10 minutes of leaving work, I was having trouble breathing. It went downhill really fast. All I could think of was my kids ... and Halloween ... and what was going to happen with them, and I did not want to leave them. By the time we reached Stoughton Hospital, I had almost passed out.

All I can remember is them saying “she is having a heart attack.” They gave me morphine and I never felt the pain. The doctors told me my heart was bad and I needed to be “Med-Flighted” to Meriter Hospital.  The only other thing I remember is that when Med-Flight took off, I asked them to go over my kids’ school so I could wave to them.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery and the nurses were saying “you are going to be okay-just try to relax.”  Later, I learned that I was in surgery for 10 hours and that I am lucky to be alive.

I thank God for every day that I have and can’t thank the doctors and nurses enough for helping me through. This was a real scary time. I did learn that that there is no law stating how old you have to be to have heart problems. I always thought that it happened to older people, but it’s not true.

I have two daughters, now 18 and 13. I get their blood checked and monitored at least once a year. It’s a good thing that I do. Both kids have bad cholesterol, so we try hard to watch their diet for them, but it is really hard. We all work so much just to make ends meet. We have a hard time finding time to eat right, and that is wrong.

My advice to others is to please make sure you find the time to eat right. If you have kids, please make sure you get them checked. It can’t hurt, and it may save them later on down the road.

Barb