Jen Hale is pictured working the Panthers vs. Vikings game. She was diagnosed the following Monday when she got home to New Orleans. As you can see in the picture, the swelling was getting significant, and her feet were too swollen to fit into any shoes except flip flops
The most significant events in one’s life leave a lasting impression and teach an unforgettable lesson, right? Well, only in some cases — and often only to some extent.
I lost my father and best friend, Special Agent Rodney Hale, to heart failure when he was 50 years old, just a few weeks after I graduated high school. I was 17 years old. Even now, 20 years later, I count his death as one of the most difficult, defining moments in my life. I still think of him daily, when inevitably there’s something I want to ask him, share with him or even admit he was right about — when there’s something I do understand now that I’m “older,” even though I always hated when he told me that.
Given how much I miss him and how hard it was for my mother and two younger siblings to carry on without him, one would think I would be acutely aware of what cost him his life so young.
The predicament of heart disease and who it can affect only became devastatingly clear to me three years ago, when I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy after months of strange symptoms. Doctors told me the realistic prognoses were either a five-year life expectancy or a heart transplant. Mercifully, after two years of waiting and trying different medicines, it turns out I’m in the minority of dilated cardiomyopathy patients who find medication to be effective in remodeling a damaged heart. I’m in that number of approximately 1/3 of dilated cardiomyopathy patients who can simply take medication a few times a day and avoid a transplant. . .or a death sentence.
There are many times I now feel silly and irresponsible for letting my condition deteriorate so badly. When I was finally diagnosed, my heart was down to 16% pumping capacity. Shouldn’t I have known the risks and the warning signs of heart disease? Shouldn’t I have known the preventative tests I should have been undergoing since my father, uncle and grandfather all died at age 50 or below of heart trouble?
Looking back, yes, I should have; however, the reality is that I didn’t. I was a female, non-smoker who had never tried illegal drugs. I didn’t even eat red meat. I did cycle, run, cross fit and lift weight several times a week. I was good to go, right? I led a very healthy lifestyle, except for red wine or champagne at dinner. In my mind, even though I had a family history, I was too young, too fit and too healthy to worry about heart trouble. I’d pay attention and get checked when I was “older.”
Excusing, ignoring and justifying the symptoms of heart failure almost cost me my future. My intent isn’t to turn anyone into a hypochondriac; however, I wish I’d put the pieces together. I wish I’d read about someone healthy, in their 30s, with my symptoms. Then maybe I wouldn’t have chalked up the constant exhaustion to work, the increasing shortness of breath to allergies or acid reflux, and all the swelling from water retention to food allergies or eating too much salt.
Please believe me when I say you need to be aware of what symptoms like these could mean in terms of heart trouble, especially if you have a family history of heart disease. Take the time to write down that history in case you need it someday: who was diagnosed with what, their symptoms and at what point in their life this occurred. Genes are powerful things that sometimes deliver blessings and other times deliver curses.
One of my biggest mistakes: I thought heart attacks and heart failure were the same thing, triggered by an unhealthy lifestyle and eating fried foods that clogged your arteries. Looking back at my dad’s medical records, they do say heart failure. All these years though, in my mind, I incorrectly remembered heart attack, because I didn’t differentiate the two. Yes, both conditions fall under the heart disease category, but they are actually very different.
In broad terms, a heart attack usually happens suddenly, because blood flow — and therefore the heart’s oxygen supply — is cut off, generally from a blocked artery. Heart failure usually develops gradually: your heart muscle gets weaker and weaker, your heart pumps less and less blood throughout your body and eventually your heart simply stops. Heart failure can be caused by a multitude of things, including cardiomyopathy.
There are four known types of cardiomyopathy. The good news is we now know so much more about what causes heart disease. Cardiologists have many weapons to treat it and enable you to lead a full life. Help doctors help you by paying attention to telltale symptoms, catching problems early and having a detailed family history ready. If I had told doctors in checkups throughout the years that my family history involved heart failure instead of a heart attack, perhaps they would have suggested precautionary tests that would have identified my problem early on.
Looking back, I also realize part of the reason I ignored my symptoms is because I was busy competing in a man’s world. I didn’t think I had time to keep going to doctors just because I was tired, nor did I want to say anything that might make my co-workers feel like I was too weak or soft to hold up my end of the job. We as women push ourselves incredibly hard, whether it’s in the professional workplace, the familial workplace or both.
So many moms, including my own, always put their family’s needs ahead of their own. Since first telling my story, I’ve heard from so many stay-at-home moms who also ignored their symptoms for months because they were busy tending to children and husbands. Ironically, one type of cardiomyopathy is directly related to pregnancy and childbirth. Peripartum cardiomyopathy usually begins around the last month of pregnancy and often isn’t identified until after the mom delivers her baby. Many women struggle to get accurately diagnosed because the cardiomyopathy symptoms are attributed to just being a new mom. Who would think incredible fatigue would be caused by anything other than a newborn waking you up all night long?
As women, we need to take as much care of ourselves as we do the other responsibilities in our lives like families, jobs and community commitments. We need to recognize, respect and protect our own health — not minimize its importance because there are other demands on our time.
Despite not identifying my heart failure until it was critical, I’m blessed to be off the heart transplant list and living an amazing life. Now, there is virtually nothing I’m restricted from doing, other than redlining my heart rate when I exercise. I do rest more, take medication daily and avoid second-hand smoke; however, I’m doing virtually anything I want, instead of lying in bed awaiting a transplant or something worse. I thank God daily for giving me a second chance and figure He must have a reason for that.
Please learn from my mistakes and be pro-active when it comes to heart disease — for yourself and for your family.
Jen Hale is pictured on the basketball court holding her heart monitor. The monitor was connected to her vest, which would shock her heart back into beating in case it stopped.
Jen Hale pictured with her parents.
Jen Hale pictured with her late father Rodney Hale.
Jen Hale pictured wearing a defibrillator vest, which she wore for 8 months after her diagnosis . The vest would shock her heart back into beating in case it stopped. She was able to stop wearing it when her heart got to 35% pumping capacity.
