On Jan. 12, 2005, local Mary Kay sales director Amie Kelly had just returned to her Waco home from a business trip to New Orleans when she suddenly had a weird tingling sensation in her left arm. She tried to walk into her living room, but her gait was unsteady. She tried to yell for her husband, Kevin, who was unpacking her bags, but her words came out gibberish.

“It was my mom’s birthday. And all I could think of was that I was dying on my mom’s birthday,” said Kelly, only 35 at the time. “In my mind I was thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, what will we do?’ I could think but I couldn’t talk. I had a crazy rush of fear.”

Kevin came into the room and saw his wife’s face. He helped her to a couch and within about a minute Amie was able to speak again. They went to an urgent care facility, and an MRI showed that the otherwise healthy and young Amie had suffered a mild stroke. Further tests showed she had a hole in her heart, a condition called patent foramen ovale (PFO).

Two months later, she had a device implanted in her heart. To this day, she is on medication to stabilize her heartbeat.

The entire episode took Amie by complete surprise. It does most young women who suffer heart-related ailments.

We shouldn’t be surprised, however, because heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in America.

Health campaigns nowadays often educate women about fatality rates of breast cancer and other seemingly more common and dangerous diseases. The threat of heart disease in women tends to get overlooked. It shouldn’t.

Today we should all wear red as part of National Wear Red Day sponsored by the American Heart Association to bring attention to this preventable disease that strikes thousands of women like Amie every year.

One reason is that too often women ignore warning signs, said Melissa Contreras, Southwest corporate marketing director for the American Heart Association. “As working women and wives and mothers, we put ourselves on the back burner and dismiss those warning signs. We’re waiting for that ‘Hollywood heart attack’ that causes us to clench our fist and knock things over as we fall down.”

But such drama seldom accompanies heart attacks of women. In fact, heart attack symptoms for women often manifest themselves as indigestion or gas; hot flashes; jaw tightness; and back pain between the shoulders.

“Between carrying our purses and carrying groceries and children, who doesn’t have back pain?” Contreras said. “We eat on the go and think that’s why we have indigestion. We clench our jaws when asleep, so that’s easy to dismiss. We’re also taught not to inconvenience others.”

I’m guilty of all the above. Yet it was pointed out to me that as caregivers we can’t care for others if we’re not physically fit. It’s also not a good example for our daughters to follow.

“It’s very easy to keep putting off whatever symptoms you are having until it’s too late,” said Lynn Pachelli, chairman of the Go Red for Women luncheon next Tuesday at First Woodway Baptist Church. “Women get upset when their family members don’t take care of themselves, but they aren’t setting a good role model when they don’t take care of themselves, either.”

About 500 people are expected at Tuesday’s luncheon (and, yes, men are invited). Speakers will discuss telltale warning signs, new cardiology technology available in our area and tips for slowing down. Hillcrest Baptist Health System CEO and President Glenn Robinson and Waco cardiologist Donald S. “Buck” Cross will explain radial artery catheterization being used at Hillcrest, which runs tubes through wrist arteries rather than groin veins, is much more comfortable for patients and has a reduced recovery time.

Last year’s luncheon raised $53,000 for the American Heart Association. More importantly, it helped some women, like Amie, to consider their vascular health and to take the time to make time for their heart — the wellspring to our souls, after all.

For luncheon details, call 254-749-3781.

Contact Sandra Sanchez at 757-5723 or ssanchez@wacotrib.com.

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