By Jamie Bates

The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women crusade celebrates the energy, passion and power of women to band together in an effort to wipe out heart disease.

Each year, to celebrate the spirit of this nationwide movement, the local chapter of the AHA selects a group of Power Women who represent the drive and determination of the fight against heart disease.

Each of these women has a story, a connection, a stake in the battle. They help to put a face on the statistics and help us remember that behind each statistic, there is a real person — a mother, a father, a sibling, a neighbor, a friend.

Here, in their own words, the 2010 Go Red Power Women, Elaine Stevens, Beth Carriere and Mary Alice Miner, and the 2010 Go Red campaign honoree, Susan Oustalet, share how heart disease has personally touched their lives, and how the ongoing work the American Heart Association has given each of them hope for the future.

2010 Go Red honoree

Susan Oustalet,
Gift Gallery

This is very personal for me.

On April 8, 2009, I woke up, and I wasn’t feeling badly; I just was feeling strange. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I got in the bathtub because I thought that might make me feel better. It didn’t. I held my breath for a second to dunk my head under the water, and I saw stars.

I thought I might need to go to the doctor. (Significant other) Gail (Culp) had just left the house, and I called him and said, ‘I feel bad.’ He turned right around, but I don’t remember him coming home, I don’t remember the EMTs and firemen working on me. They tell me I flat lined nine times on the way to the hospital. My heart was in spasm. In the hospital, they used a new treatment on me, an ice blanket, and thank goodness, it worked. But I have no memory at all, really, of much of anything for about eight weeks. Easter came and went; birthdays passed. It’s all blurry.

Now, I feel good again. I’ve got a pacemaker and a defibrillator. I take 10 or 11 pills a day, and that will continue. I get a bit more tired than I did in the past, but really, I can’t complain. I just thank the man above. It was pretty scary, and the thing is, I have no family history of heart disease, and I am someone who went to the gym and worked out three to five times per week for the previous 10 years. This can happen to anyone. We all need to be aware of it.

I’ve become very excited. I want to learn more about my heart. I’m reading more about it, I’m buying heart-health books, I’m really watching what I eat — oh, am I watching what I eat, as hard as that is. I’m walking again, up to 3 miles a day. Those are things we can all do. And I’m just very grateful that I have great friends and great doctors to help me through.

2010 Power Women

Beth Carriere,
Executive director, Hancock County Tourism Bureau

My father passed away from heart disease some time ago, and my brother passed away from complications that were related to heart disease just recently. All my siblings, we all have high blood pressure, we all have high cholesterol, and we struggle with this disease daily. My family has been touched by heart disease, but I think most families have, in one way or another.

In the early 70s, my father had one of the first bypass operations done at UAB in Birmingham, a double bypass. That gave him 13 more quality years that he would not have had. He also had surgery to repair his aorta. Those operations were the result of research, and with the research that has continued to be done since that time, now my father might have been able to just have a stent put in.

I go to my doctor regularly. Women, you know, our numbers (affected by heart disease) are growing. We are typically the caregivers, but we need to take care of ourselves, too. Absolutely.

The good news is research is growing by leaps and bounds. So, if my children and grandchildren inherit the same nasty gene that my siblings and I have, with all the progress that has been made since my father’s time, hopefully, heart disease will be much more easily treated by that time, and more preventable. I want my grandbabies to have a healthier life.

Elaine Stevens,
Public Relations Manager, IP Casino Resort and Spa

My mother was diagnosed with heart disease recently and has a pacemaker now. Years ago, she was diagnosed with angina. She was able to lose some weight — that’s always a struggle but she’s doing well — and her blood pressure has always been low, but you know, even if you don’t have all the ‘issues’ that we typically think about with heart disease (like high blood pressure or obesity,) you can still have a problem! It can happen to anyone. She is my lifeline, my mother, so the work the American Heart Association does is so important to me personally.

And working for the IP — the IP is the exclusive sponsor for the Go Red campaign for the American Heart Association in South Mississippi — that’s something I am very proud of. With all the Go Red campaigns, no one else in the country does the kinds of Go Red activities we do right here — the field trips, lunches, brunches and more to expand awareness. We are looking to do something with stress reduction in the future, because stress plays such a role in heart disease, and we are all so busy and stressed these days. The IP has been a catalyst for awareness; we have such a broad reach, that we are able to bring women here to take part in things, and that’s been a great part of our partnership with American Heart.

Mary Alice Miner,
Miner’s Toy Store

It happened quite suddenly, nine years ago. My husband and I were driving in the car, and I couldn’t breathe very well. I said to him, ‘I think we better go to the hospital.’ That day, I found out I was in congestive heart failure, and I also had a valve problem that I had never known about all those years.

I really had very few of the classic symptoms you maybe think of when you think of heart disease. I was lifting heavy boxes and things just a few days before; I was busy working, and active, and if I had symptoms, I didn’t really pay attention. But when you can’t breathe, you can’t breathe.

I had a triple bypass and a valve replacement. Three weeks later, I was feeling great and back at work. Without the wonderful research that has been done, the wonderful doctors, the wonderful care, I wouldn’t have made it.

I think it’s important for people to listen to their bodies. I didn’t have a heart attack, and I didn’t have the sharp pains or any of that, but I had congestive heart failure. Listen to your body, and don’t hesitate to take action if something isn’t right, even if you aren’t sure what is wrong.

I am very grateful to everyone who participates in the Heart Association programs; I have benefited from all that has gone on before me. They kept me going. And I still work every day but Sunday, and I am now 84 years old!