Fresno mom shares heart attack experience to raise awareness about women's heart health

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno pistillate is sharing her bosom onslaught acquisition to rise consciousness astir the value of cardiac care.

Nicole James showed Action News pictures of her celebrating her 40th day successful Cancun with her family.

"I felt fine," she explained. "I felt wholly normal, similar I recovered."

Looking astatine a representation of her zip-lining, 1 would ne'er conjecture James had a bosom onslaught 2 weeks anterior -- erstwhile a Sunday day with friends turned into a travel to the hospital.

"I retrieve sitting successful the room talking to 1 of our guests, and each of a sudden, I started feeling thorax pain. It was conscionable a abrupt onset. So I excused myself and went upstairs," recalled James. "I'm having trouble breathing. I noticed that my near limb went numb."

James's hubby called 911, and the paramedics took her to the hospital, wherever doctors confirmed she had a bosom attack.

"They took maine upstairs to the surgical room, and that's erstwhile the cardiologist looked astatine me. He said, 'Ma'am, you person a teardrop successful your main artery and you shouldn't beryllium present close now. This is what we telephone a widowmaker," she said.

Multiple tests aboriginal and doctors couldn't explicate the tear, but James was conscionable grateful to beryllium alive.

Now, astir 4 years aft her bosom attack, she's informing others that a bosom onslaught tin hap to the healthiest and astir progressive women.

However, according to a Central California doc and American Heart Association ambassador, determination are hazard factors women should beryllium alert of.

"High humor unit and diabetes, obesity, precocious cholesterin and past a sedentary lifestyle," explained Dr. Srilakshmi Madhusudhan, with Dignity Health Foundation. "Then anybody who is simply a smoker oregon excess intoxicant usage oregon immoderate drugs."

None of those risks applied to James, which is wherefore she urges women to instrumentality attraction of themselves to beryllium determination to attraction for their loved ones.

"We're moving moms. We're stay-at-home moms, immoderate of america are azygous moms, we're wives," she said. "We person truthful galore commitments and relationships that propulsion connected us."

James sees a cardiologist erstwhile a year. Her past bosom screening was this week, and her doc said everything looked healthy.

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