Change of Heart

A silver heart engraved "2005" dangles from a simple Tiffany & Co. bracelet I wear almost every day. It's a symbol of my "change of heart" and the life it lets me lead.

Like so many busy women, I juggled my family, business, friends, community involvement and more—taking care of everyone but me. Sound familiar? I thought I was the picture of health at 49 years old. Well, OK, there were way too many pounds in that picture. That's why I was gung ho to hire a personal trainer for intensive workouts to whip myself into shape before I hit the Big 5-0.

But a good friend who works at The University of Kansas Hospital said, "Whoa, Shirley! You need to get your heart checked out first." Which was just plain silly, because I didn't have symptoms of heart problems. So I kept "forgetting" to schedule the assessment, until my friend and my husband conspired to make the appointment for me.

That routine heart assessment—you know, the one I swore I didn't need—literally saved my life. As a result of the assessment, they sent me for a simple stress test, which I flunked in short order. That led to more tests, and a couple weeks later, to a heart catheterization.

Convinced they were being overly cautious, I was truly unprepared for the follow-up appointment. My daughter and I were yakking a mile a minute about going shopping afterwards when my cardiologist asked if I wanted the good news or the bad news first. I chose "bad news," because how bad could it be?

It was really bad, as it turned out. They'd found an aneurysm in the upper aorta of my heart, one that rated 4.9 on a 5-point scale for severity. Translation? The sucker was ready to blow. Just lifting a suitcase could cause a rupture that would kill me. A similar condition claimed the life of actor John Ritter.

The good news? It wasn't hopeless. They could try to repair the aneurysm in a complicated open heart surgery.

In shock, I realized I didn't know beans about heart health and wasn't even sure how the heck to spell "aneurysm." So in the days before my surgery, I armed myself with knowledge. I discovered heart disease is the No. 1 killer of U.S. women, claiming one in four lives.

I downplayed the seriousness of my condition to my family while secretly pouring my heart out in goodbye letters to each of them. But thanks to the amazing skill of my heart surgeons and other caregivers, my family was spared the pain of reading those letters.

Since then, I'm on a mission to spread the word about women's heart disease and the importance of taking care of your heart. A great way to learn more about heart health—and to have a blast at the same time—is at Girls' Night In, The University of Kansas Hospital's annual fundraiser for its women's heart health program, A Change of Heart.

I'm so passionate about A Change of Heart because it focuses on awareness, assessment and advocacy. The heart health assessment is the same one that saved me. And being around women so committed to living heart-healthier lives has led to my own change of heart while inspiring my daughter and my daughter-in-law. Between the three of us, we've lost more than 160 pounds and made exercise part of our regular routines.

Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but I wear mine on my bracelet. It celebrates the grateful heart that beats within me and reminds me never again to take it for granted.

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