The heart of the matter

THE ISSUE

February is American Heart Month. The leading cause of death for men and women in this country is heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 647,000 Americans die from it annually — or one in every four deaths. Heart disease costs the U.S. well over $200 billion each year. This includes the cost of health care services, medicines and lost productivity due to death.

Statistics can cause us to sit up and take notice — especially when they’re as eye-opening as the ones concerning heart disease.

But the moving, firsthand account of her young father’s fatal heart attack and its effect on her life by staff writer Kim O’Donnel cuts to the chase better than any numbers, sobering as they may be.

As O’Donnel, who writes about food, related in the Feb. 16 Sunday LNP | LancasterOnline, “Our young family had 10 years together in a big old fixer upper on a well-kept street (in Philadelphia) where everyone knew your name. Nixon was in the White House, and John (O’Donnel) brought home the so-called bacon as a salesman for the family-owned tool and die machine shop.

“There were dinners out at pizzerias and red sauce joints with other families and summers down the shore with morning bike rides on the boardwalk and after-dinner jaunts to Betty’s Ice Cream Parlor for hot fudge sundaes.

“... Then just like that, poof. The unimaginable happened. In the early hours of Oct. 16, 1982, John died of a sudden heart attack. He was 37.

“Six weeks later, John’s mother, (our grandmother) Helen, was gone too, also snuffed out by heart disease, at the much-too-soon age of 56.”

Worried that heart disease seemed to run in the family, O’Donnel’s mom had her three children’s blood tested at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. O’Donnel writes that she was “singled out as the unlucky heir of genes that pose an elevated risk for heart disease, a legacy that I carry to this day.”

“In other words, (my father’s) death is the story of my life. That’s not to say I think of my family heart history as a death sentence, but it certainly has informed the way I cook, eat and think about food.”

As a young adult, though, even after pursuing a culinary vocation, O’Donnel said that she “ate without my health in mind and avoided regular blood lipid screenings.”

It wasn’t until she had a game-changing scare that resulted in a trip to the cardiac ER at a Seattle hospital — and a multitude of tests — that she faced reality. On that summer day in 2016, she wrote, “I was done with excuses.”

Working with her physician, O’Donnel focused on changing her lipid profile through diet, exercise, and a cocktail of vitamins and natural supplements. Her regimen has reduced her total blood cholesterol to the lowest it’s ever been.

But she’s keenly aware that “the work is never done. I’m one of those people who has to work harder than most to keep her lipids under control — for life.”

Although the myth is that heart disease is for men and cancer is for women, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S., according to the CDC.

It’s the No. 1 killer for black and white women, in a tie with cancer among Native American women, and the No. 2 killer for Asian and Hispanic women. Signs of heart attack vary greatly in women and can include nausea, lightheadedness, jaw, neck or shoulder discomfort, unusual fatigue, sweating and shortness of breath.

Here’s what the American Heart Association recommends:

— Ask your physician to check your blood pressure and cholesterol.

— Stop smoking, lose weight, get exercise, and eat healthily.

— Make healthier food choices for you and your family.

— Teach your children the importance of staying active.

— And spread the word by telling every woman you know that heart disease is their No. 1 killer.

Let’s be honest. Who among us hasn’t procrastinated about getting something checked medically, even though we know the delay could be costly? The vast majority of us are guilty of this. Our lives get in the way, so we put it off.

But O’Donnel’s experience is a stark reminder to find time in our busy schedules to make that appointment, to stop ignoring what shouldn’t be ignored — to take charge of our health.

“American Heart Month will come and go,” O’Donnel concluded, “but it’s never too late to get your blood cholesterol tested. Even if you’re in the elevated risk club like me, heart disease is pretty preventable. Take it from me; your life may depend on it.”

Amen to that.

Crédito: THE LNP | LANCASTERONLINE EDITORIAL BOARD