facts about heart attacks

"it was april 7th, it was a weekend for a baseball tournament" "it was a beautiful sunday afternoon and.. his third baseball game he wanted a friend to come over." "well we had been at the baseball field all day long. i found his parents and... we agreed that they would come over at 4:30."

"we have never had wendy, mason, and brandon over before." "when i got home you know there was so much to do.. i had laundry the beds weren't made, the house was a mess, we were dirty." "it was just probably not the perfect time..

to have people over but you know i'm a busy mom i can do this." "lets knock this out and have these people over." "i was in the kitchen cooking and my right arm started feeling funny." "and then almost immediately i felt a burning in my chest.. and i thought i have heart burn. this jalapeno dip.. is giving me heart burn. so i went and got myself some tums." "can back in the kitchen so i said you know what i don't feel so good... sitting down on the couch with him and he said 'mommy are you okay?' "went to the bathroom and i immediate started sweating...

it was a cold sweat just per-fuse sweat." "it was just a feeling that i wanted to get all my clothes off." "just want the elephant off my chest you want everything to come off." "i kind of started panicking." "we came to the door and we knocked on the door... and nobody answered and we knocked again and nobody answered." "talking to myself thinking though this saying... it's going to be okay, its going to be okay." "just breath, just breath."

"i ran the door bell." "chapel says, 'mom they're here'... "and i was like great." "then we saw jenny send chapel, he came to the door and he greeted... our son and they went upstairs to play and.. jenny came out a little bit.. a few minutes later." "and i went out to the door and i saw... wendy look at me funny. i said i think i ate something bad... give me just a minute, i'm so sorry."

"she was sweating, she was hunched over, she was telling me... she didn't feel well," "soon as i sat down i said, 'wendy i think i'm going to be sick'." "i looked at her and i said, 'do you think i need to call 911?' "i don't know i was cooking and my right arm... and i started sweating and i couldn't breath." started feeling bad and my chest started hurting... "she looked and me and she said, 'my right arm is going numb.' "then as soon as she said 'my right arm is going numb'. i said i'm calling 911."

"she said, 'you're having a heart attack'. i said how could i... be having a heart attack. i'm 41. "jenny was a little in denial." "maybe it is maybe but maybe it isn't." "it can't be because i have company over right now." "and i'm thinking i'm so sorry. i just felt terrible." "i felt like i invited these people over and i've got... to get it together." "when you family has sometime of illness i would always be aware."

"once jenny said, 'my right arm went numb' i knew that had to be a heart attack." " i remember the 911 operator telling me to have her chew 5 baby aspirins." "i had her lay down and i asked her to squeeze my hand... and she could hardly squeeze my hand... and within minutes the first respondents came." "we received the call for jenny's heart attack." "we arrived at the residence and found her... sitting in i believe the bedroom." "she didn't want to believe that she was having a heart attack."

"women deny it very strongly." "i was lying there and the ems guy said we're going to call it, we're going to call it." "and i said what are you going to call i?" "sam's already on his way and he said.. ma'am you're having a heart attack we're calling into the hospital that you're on your way." "at that point i left the room but she kept apologizing... even when they carried her out onto the stretcher she was apologizing." "we were like it's okay you need to go." " and i just remember thinking does that mean i'm going to die."

"i can't die. i already lost one friend. this just can't happen." "and i just remembered saying god please let this be me." "i remember going onto the gurney, then wheeling we out... and thinking okay wendy blow out the candles, turn off the oven and again i'm so sorry," " i could hear conversations about which hospital to go to." "later i learned that there's a machine in all the ambulances... called mission life line." "and it can tell the ambulance and the ems what hospital has... the least amount of wait and if there is an open cath lab."

"what saved jenny's life was that 911 was called and she was... diagnosed in the field by the perametics." "the hospital or the nearest hospital was alerted and the team was basically there and was... ready to take her straight to the operating room when she arrived at the hospital." "so from wendy's call to 911 to when i had two tense in heart was 52 minutes." "which is an unbelievable time." "and that's all due to the first res-ponder, the awesome fireman that came and the ems... that did their job perfect that day." "later that night jenny texted me right out of surgery and she was like thank you...

and i was like i couldn't even believe someone that had come out of major surgery could just send a text.. and she was like it was mean to be and you were there at the right time and it was meant to be... and i said we were just destined to be friends." "i've asked doctor probably a dozen times.. why did this happen? "when people have heart attacks the norm is.. that they have a lot of plaque in their arteries." "what happens when the plaque becomes unstable.. a clot can develop. jenny was a unique case and that she had only...

a very small amount of plaque in one of her arteries." "i just want ever women to know that to listen to.. their heart, to listen to their body, to not be sorry when you're.. sick or when you feel bad to speak up. " "if just one person knows the signs and the symptoms... that they would call their doctor and get checked or get help if that was happening." "my name is jenny covert stewart and i a daughter.. a sister, a wife, a mother of three, and heart attack survivor." "this is why i go red for women."