On July 30, 2023, at age 67, my husband Harvey had a massive heart attack. If you knew him, you would have been as shocked as the rest of us to think that he would ever have a heart attack. He was active, never smoked, and had a zest for life that never indicated that his heart was anything but good and healthy. Although the ER staff resuscitated and stabilized him and transferred him to an excellent hospital, Harvey never regained consciousness and was supported in the cardiac ICU by medications, machines and very skilled medical professionals. Sadly, he was unable to recover and passed away 5 weeks later.
Our motivation for this organization, Advocates for Cardiac Screening is to educate people who, like us, have no idea that deadly Coronary Artery Disease is present in their body. Harvey had several Life Line screenings over the years, the last one on June 23rd, just 5 weeks before his massive heart attack and never knew that his “widow maker” was nearly fully blocked. He had no signs or symptoms (no shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, poor circulation) to indicate this blockage. Unfortunately, Harvey looked “good” except for slightly low HDL cholesterol and was not aware that the arteries of his heart (coronary arteries) needed to be screened
Our hope and passion is to encourage anyone who has family history of heart disease or has even a gut feeling they could have CAD, to ask their doctor for a screening for Coronary Artery Disease – a Coronary Artery Calcium scan (CAC) at minimum, which indicates the level of calcium in the coronary arteries. It is a non-invasive test that takes about 20 minutes and costs about $150.00. This blockage didn’t occur overnight and I believe that if coronary artery screening had been done, Harvey might have caught this blockage and survived with appropriate treatment. If I can save one person from dying too soon and save one spouse from this incredible grief, then our mission will have been successful.