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Spotlight

Champion Profile

Stephanie Bochenek Kentucky

I’m Stephanie Bochenek, a 22 year old Kentucky resident, originally from Hamilton, ON. I recently graduated from Michigan State University, where I was a five year student-athlete. All my life I have had a passion for sports, usually playing multiple sports at once, including soccer, basketball, track, badminton, and volleyball. In my first four years at Michigan State, I rowed on the varsity rowing team and my fifth year I threw javelin. I have always thought that I was living a “healthy” lifestyle, but last summer I was diagnosed with a heart defect and I realized that some things you just can’t control.
 
I have a bicuspid aortic valve, which is a heart defect I was born with.  This is when the aortic valve only has two leaflets that open and close each beat instead of the normal three leaflets. The doctors also found that my aortic root was big enough to be considered an aneurysm, so I was scheduled for a CT scan and told to stop doing anything strenuous. Everything I do revolves around strenuous activities and training, but for those three weeks I thought that I would never be able to do the things that I love to do again. You can imagine how hard it would be to have everything you’ve worked so hard for and all the dreams you have for the future taken away from you in an instant. I started thinking about ways I could stay involved in sports, especially in rowing as a coach. When I left the clinic after my test and diagnosis, I immediately decided to leave everything up to God. Doing that helped me find peace and strength in my reality.

This past year, since my diagnosis, my life has been amazing in many ways. The CT results showed that the current stage of my condition wasn’t as bad as originally thought, so I was cleared to continue what I was doing before. I feel so blessed to be able to keep doing what I love despite my condition. After I was cleared, I was able to work everything out to join the track team at Michigan State and throw javelin.
This experience has helped me become more aware that so many people are born every day with heart defects.  Some may never know it, but a lot of them will have to fight every day to live because their defects are so severe that they require surgery and other treatments, even at a very young age.

What am I doing in Kentucky, you ask? Well, long story short, I moved down here in August to hopefully find a job in Richmond because, for some reason I don’t know, I felt like this was where my next step was. I decided that I wouldn’t know if it was true unless I came here and gave it a shot.

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Has heart disease or stroke impacted your life? Share your story with us today.

Thank you for the sharing your story.  Putting a face on heart disease and stroke CAN influence lawmakers.  You may hear directly from AHA about ways your story can make a difference.

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Kim Leo Pennsylvania

A little over ten months ago, I suffered a massive heart attack.  It was one week to the day of my 47th birthday, one that I almost didn’t have the chance to celebrate.  Other than taking medication for hypertension, I was considered to be in great health.  My daily routine included at least 30 minutes of cardio activity.   I ate a very healthy diet and was a non-smoker.

My husband and I ride together to work.  The morning of Monday, May 21, 2012, was no different than any other until shortly after we arrived at work.  I took the stairs to the second floor, as I always did.  When I got to my desk, I started to untie the belt of my raincoat.  Out of nowhere, an extreme wave of nausea came over me with the feeling that I was going to vomit.  Within seconds, I began to perspire and experience a tingly sensation in my chest.  I immediately recognized that something was seriously wrong and called my husband and asked him to come to my desk right away.  When he got to my desk, I was on my hands and knees over my trashcan.  He immediately sought help from a first responder, who proceeded to call 911 and an ambulance arrived shortly.

While lying in the ambulance during preparations to be transported to the hospital, my thoughts shifted to my two daughters, who live in Pittsburgh, as well as my parents, who live in the Northern Virginia area, whom we had just visited that weekend.  I knew how shocking this news would be for them.  I never lost consciousness and could hear the dialogue taking place between the paramedic and the communication center at the hospital.  As the paramedic was looking at my EKG strip, she said that she saw normal sinus rhythm but that she was also seeing something that she had never seen before. Shortly thereafter, I heard the driver say that they were going with sirens.  I know that it is critical to receive treatment within 90 minutes of a heart attack and I knew I didn’t have much time to spare.  I prayed that I would make it to the hospital in time to get the treatment that I needed.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was wheeled into a room where a team of medical personnel was waiting for me.  That was a bit overwhelming and I knew that it probably wasn’t a good sign. They immediately prepped me for a cardiac cath. The nurse to my right asked me if there was anyone that I wanted them to call.  I didn’t know if my husband had called our daughters or my parents so I gave her their cell phone numbers.  The next recollection that I had was waking up in the Cardio-Thoracic ICU to learn that I had double bypass surgery, due to a 99% blockage of the left main artery, and that I had suffered a massive heart attack.

In hindsight, I suppose that not knowing what was happening was probably for the best.  But it sure was a difficult time for my family.  When my husband was escorted out of the emergency room to be taken to another waiting room, the nurse said to him, “Sir, I don’t know if you’re a religious man, but now would be a good time to start praying.”  The two cardiothoracic surgeons that he spoke with painted a rather bleak picture and stated that the surgery would be difficult due to my critical condition. The heart function in my left ventricle had become so weakened that the blood supply to other vital organs was greatly compromised.  An Impella device, which is used to aid in ventricular failure, was inserted through my femoral artery to stabilize me until I could go into surgery.   Because I had been sedated after the blockage was diagnosed, my husband had to sign the consent forms for the procedures.

As you can imagine, the news of what had happened was devastating—especially since I was so health conscious about diet and exercise.  In fact, my husband and I had just run a 5K in Pittsburgh on April 21st.  Everyone had the same reaction, shock and disbelief, including my physicians.  I see my Primary Care Physician every six months and had even consulted a cardiologist in July 2011.  I had a normal echo stress test and was discharged back to my Primary Care Physician.  I feel very blessed to be a survivor and I know that the healthy choices that I made certainly helped make the difference.

Since my cardiac event, I have become very passionate about raising the awareness of heart disease in women.  As a result, I recently became a volunteer for the American Heart Association, which I am enjoying tremendously.

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Kaelyn Mulcahy Apple Valley, MN

Last year, when I was 21, I had three strokes. I was at work when the first one happened. I was dizzy and a little disoriented with a bad headache on the left side of my head and sharp pain at the back of my neck. After an hour and still not feeling well I went home. I took a nap, which is when I believe I had the next two strokes since when I woke up I was so much worse. My head hurt even more and I couldn’t walk straight. I was so dizzy that it caused me to throw up four times. My roommate drove me to the ER. The doctor took a CT scan and when that was clear he ruled my symptoms as a really bad migraine. He gave me a pill for the nausea and the vertigo and told me to take Excedrin for my headache. My nausea and vertigo went away but no matter how often I took Excedrin Migraine for my headaches they never fully went away.

Four days later, April 4th, I passed out at work. I called my mom and she wanted me to see my primary doctor. I had a hard time getting in to see him. It wasn’t until my mom asked to speak with him personally that I got in. Bless him; he skipped his lunch on April 6th to see me. He didn’t like the sound of my symptoms and was angry that the ER doctors in Mankato didn’t do further testing. My doctor had me do an MRI and it showed three strokes in my cerebellum. I was immediately admitted into the ER and transferred to Fairview Southdale where I stayed for 4 days getting all kinds of tests done. Turns out I have a PFO (hole between my right and left atrial), a clotting disorder, hereditary high cholesterol, and a fainting disorder. The whole situation didn’t hit me until 2 ½ weeks after I was released. I didn’t know myself that summer. I was sad at first then became angry. Finally I became scared. I was scared that I would have another stroke, one that would have lasting damage, and scared for my life. Mostly I was scared that since I will be considered a high risk pregnancy, I wouldn’t be able to have children, and if I could that something would happen to the baby. I was so depressed and stressed and I would snap at my roommates over everything. That’s not like me at all, I always felt so bad afterwards. I had to distract my mind every second of the day or else I would break down crying. Every night I cried myself to sleep. I cried so hard I got a bunch of little blood vessels under my eyes. I didn’t laugh for real until the beginning of July. I threw myself into my work; I would pick up shifts helping in lumber. I had to ask a day off every week to go to a doctor appointment, otherwise I worked every day. I didn’t have a day off for myself until mid- July. Once school started again I was better. I still had to distract myself during the day but I was mostly myself again. I am a lot better now, still struggle every now and then but I am doing good. I don’t want someone else my age, or anyone, to have to go through what I went through.

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June 1-7 was National CPR/AED Awareness Week and that means a lot of Heart Association volunteers getting the word out about how to save lives through CPR and AEDs.  In Arkansas, You’re the Cure advocate Diana Boulton took it upon herself to educate Congressional offices near her home town.

Diana visited the in-district offices of Senator John Boozman and Senator Mark Pryor to teach their staff members just how easy it is to learn the basics of CPR.   The staff members took part in hands-on CPR training and learned how to give chest compressions to someone suffering from a sudden cardiac arrest.
 
During the training session a short advocacy presentation was given asking for Congressional support for NIH research funding and rural/community AED placements.  The Congressional staff members in each office were also given a brief overview of state activities surrounding CPR/AEDs and other legislative priorities.

Thanks to Diana and all the other volunteers for spreading the word during National CPR/AED Awareness Week!!

 

 

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