she said.
Instead of comforting her children, the letters became part of Cherron’s recovery process after her transplant.
“The social worker at VCU told me to delete those letters,” Cherron said. “So, we deleted them and we don’t have them anymore. Now I can tell them (the story) myself.”
Heart disease is the number one cause of both death and disability in women in the U.S. As a Black woman, you have an even higher chance of dying from heart disease—and at a younger age—compared to white women, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
How big of a problem is this? About 49% of African American women over age 20 have some type of heart disease, like:
– Clogged arteries in the heart, arms, or legs
– Stroke
– High blood pressure
– Angina (chest pain)
That means nearly 1 in every 2 Black women in the U.S. has heart disease.
Think about that: If you’re sitting in a room with another Black woman, that means one of you might have some type of heart disease—and you don’t even know it.