my heart or was related to the swollen feet and ankles.”
Then came the day Denise took Shirley to a doctor’s appointment. The paperwork asked all sorts of questions about the symptoms of heart problems. Denise checked “no” for Shirley, but realized the answers were “yes” for herself.
“I started having some bells and whistles,” Denise shares. “That’s when I knew it could be my heart.”
Denise saw a cardiologist. After a stress test, the doctor said there was no indication she had a blockage or any signs of heart issues. This was about three months after she’d begun having chest pain.
She left the doctor’s office feeling relieved. Fear returned when Denise, a corporate trainer, left for a business trip to Denver.
Heart palpitations prompted Denise to start monitoring her blood pressure. She saw it was on the rise. She logged her symptoms in a spreadsheet, which she gave to her cardiologist at a follow-up appointment a month after the previous visit. The doctor handed it back to Denise and said, “I don’t need it because there is nothing wrong with your heart.”
The cardiologist chalked up the symptoms to stress and told her to relax.
Two weeks later, Denise was in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Each time she experienced heart palpitations, she reassured herself that it was just stress. Hours later she was in an ambulance, headed to the hospital. Doctors ended up opening her blocked coronary artery by inserting a stent during a non-invasive procedure.
Four years later, Denise experienced several episodes of a low heart rate. One time, she passed out and spent the night in the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed it as an isolated incident. Seven months later, she was back in the hospital. This time her heart stopped, and she had to be resuscitated. She ended up getting a device implanted to help maintain a regular rhythm.
Denise was grateful she survived. But she carried a lot of anger over multiple missed diagnoses that could have proven fatal. She even contacted an attorney about pursuing legal action but decided to take a positive approach to recovery.
Denise founded a nonprofit organization, Fresh Start for Your Heart, that provides heart disease education and resources. She teaches CPR classes and participates in American Heart Association events.
“Denise is a real survivor,” Shirley says. “And because she survived, she wanted to give back.”
By American Heart Association