CLEMMONS, N.C. — Teacher Fran Page is reminding others to be on the lookout for the signs of heart disease.
Paige is an art teacher at Clemmons Elementary School, and her students are a part of her life.
Page, who was hospitalized in 2015 after suffering a heart attack, said, “The love notes and drawings I receive every morning are what fuel my day.'' Please return to my classroom. … It was a new normal, but I wanted to get back to what I thought was normal. I needed to get back together with my kids. ”
February is Heart Health Month, and the American Heart Association says cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women, claiming more lives than all cancers combined.
In June 2015, Paige's life changed after seeing a doctor.
“We got there very quickly. The doctors weren't quite ready yet. And the nurses started taking vitals, and within five minutes the doctor came rushing in with a portable EKG machine, and at the same time… “I called an ambulance. I had already had a heart attack and had been walking around with one for several days,” she said.
It was the heart attack she didn't know she had on the last day of school.
“It really started on a Friday night. And I didn't go to the doctor until the following Thursday. And the last thing I remember is being taken to the emergency room in a wheelchair. And a month later I woke up from a coma,” Page said.
She had all the symptoms to be wary of, but each one had an excuse.
“I was pale. My excuse, it was summer. It was hot. My excuse was it was summer and I wasn't feeling well. “The kids gave me something,” Page said. said. “But considering all these symptoms and adding them up, I should have known better. I should have known to go to the doctor.”
And heart disease runs in her family.
“My father died of a heart attack at a young age. I have an aunt who had a pacemaker. That should have been on my radar. It wasn't,” Page said.
Now, she's urging women to recognize the symptoms and get things in order.
“All I can say is take your body seriously and know your body. Know if it's not right and you're having multiple symptoms,” she said.
“I was in pain, but so was my jaw, so I made an appointment with the dentist,” Page said. “I didn't have the pain in my arm like the man did.”
And now, to stay healthy, she uses a defibrillator to help regulate her heart and make better decisions every day.
Page said some of the things she did to improve her health were lowering her sodium intake, cutting down on caffeine and exercising as much as possible.
The American Heart Association says black women and Hispanic women are disproportionately affected by heart disease and stroke.
As with men, the most common heart attack symptom for women is chest pain or discomfort. However, women are more likely than men to experience other common symptoms, especially shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, and back and jaw pain.
