Something didn’t feel right.  I was really tired.  Not the complaining, “my life is so busy” tired…but the knowing “I’m dragging, fatigued and my body doesn’t feel healthy” tired.  I was also short of breath and experiencing intense and frequent heart palpitations. Little did I know that these symptoms were the early warning signs of heart disease in women.  Two days of tests confirmed what I had never expected to hear:  I was one of the over 85 million Americans with Cardiovascular Disease and I needed to have Open Heart Surgery. 

Let's get the good news out of the way, according to my doctors rarely does ANYONE come through Open Heart Surgery without ANY complications (after all...they stopped my heart and took it out of my body for 22 minutes!)...but miraculously, I did. I elected to do a full round of Cardiac Rehab at Mount Sinai Hospital; and it was the second best decision of my life.  The discipline necessary to strengthen your heart after Open Heart Surgery is relentless and exhausting, but oh so worth it.  Within three months, I was on the path to complete recovery, but somehow I didn’t feel that I had completed my journey  It was time for me to use my public platform for something that really mattered.  I personally reached out to AHA and joined them in their mission to emphasize heart health and in 2010; I was named the American Heart Association’s National Volunteer.

Six years later, I’m living my best life in great health. I have launched National Wear Red Day every year since my Open Heart Surgery by sharing my personal heart story and re-dedicating myself to living a heart healthy lifestyle.  I actually wear red everyday in February to keep heart health awareness on the front burner during Heart Month!  I learned late in life that my health is my greatest asset.  For as the proverb says, “she who has health has hope…and she who has hope has everything.” I’m proud that I have been named the American Heart Association’s National Volunteer and to be involved with the remarkable Go Red For Women movement. Heart Health has become my mission in life and my hope for tomorrow.

You can Click here to read my entire heart story…LIFE is truly a blessing.