Heart Stories
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Thank you to the individuals below who have shared their incredible, inspiring stories to advocate for women's heart health.
Start the conversation. Because #HerHeartMatters
Marion Martell
Ottawa, ON
From Complete Heart Block diagnosis to living with a pacemaker. Marion offers insight on symptoms, diagnosis, and life after pacemaker insertion.
Charlotte Girard
Otterburn Park, QC
Beginning with an emergency consult in ophthalmology and receiving a diagnosis of cardiac microvascular angina, Charlotte describes how beneficial it was for her to get group support early in her recovery process.
Donna Hart
Milton, ON
Donna describes her journey from end-stage heart failure to receiving a heart transplant and recovery. She has since participated in two Canadian Transplant Games!
Hope Sarfi
Richmond, BC
Confusing her symptoms for heartburn and ending up undergoing emergency open-heart surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting), Hope knows how important it is to pay attention to symptoms which "just don't feel right".
Nicole Nickerson
Middle Lahave, NS
Nicole is 38 years old and a mother of two, with coronary arterial disease with two prior non-STEMI heart attacks. She saw firsthand the inequity in woman’s heart health in all levels of care and prevention. Since finishing cardiac rehab, she strives to live a healthy lifestyle while advocating for women's heart health, especially in rural areas.
Nadia Lappa
Ottawa, ON
Nadia's Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) journey began in 2016 after she gave birth to her third child. One day, she felt a surge of anxiety and the need to flee, to be away from people, became violently ill and found herself laying on the floor of a public washroom.
Najah Adreak, MD, MSc
Vancouver, BC
In 2018, Najah attended a conference for SCAD. She listened to many patients share their heart health stories alongside presentations from experts in women’s heart health. She can remember going home with a heavy heart, feeling "as doctors, we are failing our women patients intentionally".
Dima Dupéré
Ottawa, ON
My name is Dima and I’m 56 years old. March 3, 2021 was the day that changed my life. I went to the ER when the sore shoulder blade was accompanied by chest pain, and was told I had suffered a heart attack (an NSTEMI).
Jayneel Limbachia, MSc
London, ON
I am an avid health enthusiast and a strong proponent of preventive medicine. However, as a South Asian, I have found such notions of health to be largely unpopular amongst our community, which is riddled with diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Darlene Potts-Edwards
Smiths Falls, ON
My name is Darlene, I am 61 years old and a survivor of two open-heart surgeries. A faint sound like a seagull cry from my heart set off a small alarm in my gynecologist. In 1986 at the age of 25, during a routine checkup following the birth of my first son, that sound would change my life.
Jennifer Florax
Edmonton, AB
I had a newborn and a two-year-old and there is no time for wallowing or finding coping mechanisms. I did what the doctors told me, went to all my appointments, took the pills they gave me, and just moved on. It wasn’t until that summer that I got mad.
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