October 22, 2003. It is has been 1191 days, 23 hours, 35 minutes and 42 seconds and at the young age of 40 years old when an unbelievable chapter in my book of life began. My name is Tami and I am a heart attack survivor!

I have overcome many statistics that women with heart disease face daily. You see 44% of women that have had a myocardial infraction (heart attack) die within the first year. More women than men die of a heart attack or even a second heart attack. Sixty three percent of women who died suddenly of Coronary Heart Disease had no previous symptoms. I am one of those women; I never knew what hit me until days later in the cardiac care unit. And yes, I died, but was in the hospital and diagnosed early enough that I was saved from death.

I am your sister, mother, daughter and any very much like some women that you know. I worked for the same company for twenty years, always pushing myself that extra step in order to get ahead. Many of my days in the months prior to my heart attack were spent going to work at 5:00 AM and leaving at 6:00 PM. Then to come home to a wonderful husband and two children and do the things moms do. On July 17th, I did the above mentioned things, only this day, I was more tired than normal. I didn't hurt anywhere but just felt exhausted.

I told my family that I thought I would go to bed early and laid down about 8:00 pm. I must have been asleep about 30 minutes when I awoke very uncomfortable. I tossed and turned trying to get comfortable and go back to sleep. I then began sweating profusely and became nauseated. I made it to the bathroom and vomited violently and felt like I couldn't take a step afterwards I was so weak. I made it to the family room and told my husband and son that something was terribly wrong. I didn't have your typical "Hollywood" chest pain. The only two things that scared me was that I was sweating so much and that I had vomited and that was something that I have done very few times in my life.

I was a petite 5'2 and 115 pounds at the time but I was going to Aruba for a much needed vacation the next month so I thought I needed to lose a few pounds. I had heard of these "natural ephedrine" diet pills that were quite successful in my neighborhood at the time and three days before my attack, I started taking them.

The night of my heart attack, I told my husband that I must just be having a reaction to them or a virus and I would be okay. They were adamant about me going to the ER, but I was embarrassed to go. First of all, I thought they would tell me it was indigestion or a virus and make me feel silly. Plus, I hated to admit that I had taken these diet pills and knew that I would be scolded for doing so.

I must have slipped in and out of consciousness during this time because the events are very hazy to me now. But I do remember being in the car and my husband racing to the ER. The only thing I could do or say was "God please help me live". I suppose I knew somehow that my life was slipping away but I didn't know what I had done to end it. I remember thinking about where I would spend eternity and wondering why I had lived life in such a very unspiritual and vagarious way. As the old saying goes, my life did flash before me during the trip to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I remember being pushed to a room in a wheelchair and being told to put a gown on. Till this day, I couldn't tell you if I put that gown on or not. I next remember hearing the staff say these words, "She is having a heart attack", I remember trying to look around to see the poor old lady that was having a heart attack and thinking that I must be in a big room with other patients. I knew that it wasn't me they were talking about, I was only 40 and I was a female. I had never been told that young women can have heart attacks so it must be the little old lady in such bad shape. I felt sorry for her and wished the staff would quit standing around me and go help her. I then remember them asking me to rate my pain from 1-10 with 10 being the worse. I didn't have a clue how to answer that because I didn't' want to seem like wimp so I kept saying 5 every time they asked. They told me they were giving me a clot buster shot to take care of the blockage and I even then thought it must be a stomach blockage because, after all, I'm only 40.

The next part is horrendous, it is still hard for me to talk about but it is part of my story and must be told. My arms hurt so terribly bad and I could feel them cramping and drawing up towards my chest. They ask one last time to rate my pain, has heroic as I could whisper I said 5 as darkness overtook me. It was the blackest, black I can describe, and I was spinning like I was inside a black tornado spinning downwards at what seemed like 200 MPH. Then nothing……complete nothing. Life as I knew it was over.

According to hospital records, at this time I went into cardiac arrest. I flat lined…..I died…. From what I have read I was shocked or defibrillated a minimum of 3 times. I remember a little after this time but I don't know how long after that I woke up and was vomiting again. I remember trying to rise up and a nurse telling me to just turn my head to the side. I thought, how disgusting I must be, laying there throwing up because of a virus and the nurse having to help me. I asked to see my family, still not sure what was happening.

Why are they looking at me this way? Why is my Mom crying? My husband looks like he should be the one laying here instead of me. What have they been doing to look like they do? I actually told my daughter to call into my boss and tell him that I wouldn't be at work the next day. I hope he doesn't get mad. Oh well, what is one day away from the office. So many questions, but no strength to ask them, I fall asleep again. I hope they are getting sleep too because they look horrible. It must be a virus and we all have it. But why did Momma cry?

The medical staff had told my family that I might not survive the night and that the prognosis wasn't good. My family being of such strong spiritual values, called everyone they knew to pray and pray hard. They knew my soul was not ready to go and they knew they had to hold me here with all the faith they could muster. I heard the waiting room was completely full with my loving family and church friends the whole time I was in ICU.

July 18th. A doctor in scrubs hurries into my room and explains that he is a cardiologist and I'm in Intensive Care. I remember his English accent saying "You have had a dreadful Heart Attack". I don't remember any other words after that. I must have asked my nurses many times what was wrong with me because in disbelief, I wanted the correct answer. This doctor they sent in was obviously out of his mind, women at my age do not have heart attacks. As soon as I took a nap, I would have to find a doctor that would tell me what kind of virus I had.

I spent 10 days in the hospital. I spent part of the time in ICU then into the Cardiac Care unit. I had an angioplasty during this time. I remember them telling me that my heart had received so much damage and that surgery was not an option. There was another false thing, or so I thought, I thought anything could be operated on and fixed. How dare them tell me they couldn't fix me, I have to get up and go find someone to fix me! Thanks to caring nurses, I begin to understand some of what had happened and why it couldn't be fixed. I was so very confused but more worried about my family. My husband looked like he had seen death himself, it wasn't until later that I learned he had saw death before his eyes. You see, he was in the ER room with me when I flat-lined. He had to be pushed out to the waiting room after seeing them start the process of reviving me. After 22 years of marriage, his wife was at death's door and he could do nothing but hope and pray.

In the next 6 months I had three more angioplasties and 3 stents implanted. I went through cardiac rehab where I learned more about what had happened and some of things I needed to know about what was ahead of me. I tried to go back to work but only made it about 6 months when it began taking its toll on me. I was suffering from depression, had frequent panic attacks that I thought they were heart attacks happening again. I didn't have enough energy to enjoy coming home to my family in the evenings. And I realized that I had more problems than just my heart, I couldn't think of words a lot of times when I was talking. My job consisted of talking to people all day and it was nerve-wracking when I couldn't remember their name even though I had worked with them 20 years or when I couldn't remember the name of a dish that I had eaten a half hour before. I finally gave in and told my cardiologist about it and he said that I had "short term" memory loss. He said that if it was going to get better, then it should in the first year. He said it was caused due to the lack of oxygen to my brain during my flat-line period. I decided to retire before I pushed myself too far and with the damage already done, I couldn't survive another heart attack.

I have been fortunate to have this cardiologist that does take me serious and even though I doubted him when I first met him. I know now that it was a stage of the disease and it is called denial. He has been there for me at every turn and I urge everyone to find a physician that treats them like they are their number one patient. We deserve that respect as well as the doctors deserve the respect for the pressures that they have on them.

Today, I have a different outlook on life. I have become a national spokeswoman. I have given my life completely to Jesus Christ "My Personal Savior", because without him, I wouldn't have been given a second chance at life.

The next chapter of my life has began, I will do all that I can to inform other women and their families that "Yes, Women do have heart disease". I will educate them on the signs of heart disease and tell each and every one of them that it is the number one killer of our women in the US today. I will advocate early detection, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment so that I can prevent anyone from walking the walk that I have been through. Every day on this earth is a blessing to me and the least I can do is give back something and I have chosen to give myself as a living testimony of the danger of heart disease on our women today and especially our women of tomorrow.        -  Tami S.