Young Women Advocates for Awareness

One Woman's Story

Marguerite believes her heart disease started in her teen years because that's when she started having chest pains.

My name is Marguerite and I am a 43-year-old African-American female. I suffered from heart disease when I was only at 28, but it was not diagnosed until much later. I had a moderate size heart attack and the damage was done to the front left ventricle of my heart. The doctors were very puzzled because there were no clogged arteries or plaque and were not sure what caused the heart attack. My doctors told me my heart looked like a perfectly normal heart, but with a big bruise on it. The catheterization showed multiple blood clots and an aneurysm. My cardiologist said that my heart looked like someone in their 90’s who had a heart attack in their 50’s. I was put on Coumadin© right away.

My cardiologist, Dr. Gary Vigilante picked up on it. Dr. Vigilante gave me an ECG and set me up for a range of tests. Within three days, he called me. He said the EKG showed a right bundle block and he knew that I had suffered a heart attack After receiving the results from the heart catheterization, my family and I asked Dr. Vigilante why previous visits to cardiologists did not reveal anything, even during a visit just four months before. Was it possible that they never looked? His response was that I have a very complicated cardiac history and it may have been difficult for the first two cardiologists to pick up on what was going on. In reality, I believe Dr. Vigilante’s experience with women was key.

It’s likely that I have had heart disease since the age of eighteen. At that time I experienced pain in my chest and radiating down both arms, back, and shoulders. It would also leave me short of breath. I know now that it was angina, but back in 1978, who would have thought or listened to an 18-year-old who was having radiating chest pains? I was told they could be muscle spasms even when I was resting. At 19, I experienced high blood pressure -- dizziness, nausea, sweating, visual impairment, and seven years later, it led to hypertension.

I am very grateful for the treatment I did receive, but I do wonder what my health would be like today if I were treated differently when I was a teenager.

I realize that I am getting older and my risk for having a second heart attack is high. I know that my estrogen will fall as I get older and that means less protection for my heart. I have been reading, “Women are Not Small Men” by Dr. Nieca Goldberg. There is still so much more for me to learn about heart disease and the factors that contribute to it, some of that I can control, some that I can’t.

In closing, my goal is to become an advocate for women with heart disease in my community, especially the minority community. African-American women with heart disease are undereducated about the facts and risks of heart disease. Many minority women live with undiagnosed hypertension, high cholesterol, and other risk factors. They don’t realize that they’re at risk. I want to provide support and teach women how to advocate for themselves concerning early detection, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment.

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