Features - Health

Marla was taking her usual morning walk when she felt a squeezing in her left arm. She ignored it until she felt a pain like a punch to her solar plexus. She drove herself to the hospital and found out her she had three blocked arteries and needed triple bypass heart surgery.

Women are not small men. The warning symptoms for heart disease are often different for females. In addition to chest pain and shortness of breath, it’s not unusual for women to have neck, back, jaw pain or pain between the shoulder blades.

It’s five years since Marla’s wake-up call. She’s now a volunteer for WomenHeart. She tells her story so others will listen and learn:

• Heart disease is the number one killer of women, of all ages.
• One out of three will have heart disease.
• There are 6 times more women living with heart disease than living with
  breast cancer.

Don’t wait for a heart attack to happen, be informed and take any symptoms seriously. For Marla; despite a healthy lifestyle, her family history put her at high risk. Ask questions and find out about your options to a happy heart and a healthy one.

-Susan Diamond

Touchstone

Please remind me that my heart 
has only four chambers.
Scant room for such squatters
as grudges, slights, pettiness.
If I carry around baggage from the past,
there isn't room for blessings unbounded.

Help me to disarm unilaterally,
so it isn't possible to engage
in anything but joy.
So I turn over my weapons to You.
Help me be serene in a world with
such oxymorons as peace-keeping missiles.
Help me release my faith: World peace is possible.
My peace is here.

-Ruth Williams

"What's makes your heart happy?"