what it feels like: high blood pressure, heart disease and the determination to survive
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heather evans, left, began her battle with hypertension 20 years ago and continues to fight to live for her son skyler.
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heather evans says she’s alive now because she’s determined to be here for her son and her “big family” of members at the fitness club she manages in calgary, alta.
hypertension, the clinical name for continuous high blood pressure, is a silent killer that runs in her family and took the lives of five of her siblings, leaving her with one older brother and sister still living.
last may, she had a quadruple bypass heart surgery, barely surviving several complications that put her in a coma.
“i’m still here because i did change my lifestyle. i exercise and i eat healthy and i advocate for myself,” says evans, 59. “we fight the fight, and we leave this world with love and hope in our hearts. and that’s just what i’m going to do.”
lifestyle changes and managing high blood pressure
she’s also on a mission to help people understand hypertension and why it’s so important to get off the couch and forgo fast foods – being sedentary and eating highly processed meals and snacks are lifestyle choices that are setting our kids up for heart disease and poor health, she says. “if i could afford to, i would travel from school to school all across the country, shocking kids on staying the hell away from mcdonald’s and all these things.”
her story is what can happen if high blood pressure is left untreated.
according to 2017 to 2018 data from the canadian chronic disease surveillance system, about 25 per cent of adults 20 and older in canada were living with diagnosed hypertension. there’s greater incidence when you consider people who don’t know they have hypertension because typically there are no signs or symptoms. if it’s not controlled, however, it damages your organs over time, like your kidneys, eyes, brain and heart.
coronary heart disease is the second leading cause of death in canada after cancer, claiming the lives of about 70,000 canadians each year. experts agree that without more efforts on prevention, the aging process and rise in diabetes and obesity will increase heart disease rates and overburden healthcare services.
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other risk factors for heart disease include hypertension, smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, high cholesterol and stress. as the university of ottawa heart institute points out, reducing risk factors before the first heart attack or stroke can prevent or postpone 33 per cent of all deaths. taking action makes a difference.
recognizing the warning signs: early detection of heart disease
for evans, the realization that something was wrong started with a feeling of panic. three weeks earlier she had gone to her doctor because she’d experienced a momentary odd fluttering sound in her ear, sharp pain in her throat and tingling down her arm. she was prescribed an antibiotic for a sinus infection and told the arm was probably tendonitis from all the baseball she had played in a recreational league.
then her intuition prompted her to get a second opinion on a day she felt panicked. “i hadn’t had chest pain. i just had this overwhelming sense that something was going to go wrong.”
she got to a clinic where the doctor called an ambulance to take her to hospital. paramedics told her she was in cardiac arrest. “i had 100 per cent blockage to the right artery and when i came to i was very groggy. and i remember saying to rob, one of the paramedics, ‘what happened? he said, ‘well, you coded.’ and i said, ‘what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘well, technically you died.’”
in fact, she had two heart attacks within hours of each other and coded twice. all that kept running through her mind was that she needed to stay strong and alive for her five-year-old son skyler. she survived the surgeries to open the blocked artery and woke up in a hospital bed surrounded by patients who were older and white-haired. she was only 39 years old.
“they had me stacked up with pillows and i took one from behind my head and went to throw it to the end of the bed. and it took everything i had. i knew something was badly wrong with my heart because i couldn’t even throw the pillow. so, there was a lot of emotion and adjustments to be made.”
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her diagnosis was coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease, which results from what’s called atherosclerosis, or hardening and narrowing of the arteries. over time, even at a young age, unhealthy behaviours damage the lining of the artery walls with the buildup of plaque. in coronary artery disease, this buildup leads to slow or blocked blood flow to the heart which can bring on chest pain or heart attack.
that was 20 years ago in 2004 and it’s been an uphill battle for her health ever since. her marriage ended, and she devoted her time to her son and her healthy habits. she remembers coming home from the hospital and skyler wanted her to push him on a swing. she didn’t have the strength to manage it. “i broke down crying. that was a hard realization for me. and that’s where the activity and the weights and the cardio started coming into play for me because i was determined to be an active mom with him.”
combating heart disease: exercise, nutrition, and determination
evans followed a six-week program at a cardio rehabilitation centre to learn about conditioning training, good nutrition and mental health supports, which also spurred her to change her lifestyle. she quit smoking and became disciplined about taking prescribed daily medications and working out at a gym several times a week. then she started working at the gym, first as a fitness coach and later as the general manager – her goodlife club is one of the top-performing, in part because she is an outspoken example of surviving with heart disease.
“i can get them on the right path,” she says of her job and her advocacy. “you don’t have to be hercules to work out in a gym, just come in and walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes or go for a walk in the warm weather. just get active. you know, we all can afford cell phones and tim hortons drive-through, but we can’t afford a gym membership or to get a piece of equipment to get active on? that’s not okay and i won’t take excuses.”
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evans’ health challenges are complicated by type 2 diabetes and a diagnosis of bladder cancer in 2015. all three of these conditions require costly medication – she’s at 23 pills a day and an injection. she’s thankful she has medical coverage through her employer and says many people aren’t as lucky. on that note, she does some public speaking to promote access to care and let others know that heart disease goes hand-in-hand with other serious health conditions.
living with heart disease: coping strategies and resilience
evans is now in remission from cancer but not in the best shape. the added stress and grief of losing five siblings in the last few years have also taken a toll. “they were stubborn. they didn’t make the changes like i did,” she says of her critical lifestyle overhaul.
“as much as i was doing what i can, heart disease is still going to progress with age. heart attack weakens your heart. the sad thing is i have a good heart. it’s just the vessels running the arteries leading to it that are bad.”
there’s a soft, vulnerable side to her that she doesn’t let everyone see. she wakes up in the morning and blows a kiss to the sky because she’s still alive and here with her son, now 25, who bought a duplex with her so he can be close to help out. some days she has a lot of chest pain and breathlessness, and when she had the quadruple bypass in the summer, the surgeon found another blockage that can’t be fixed.
“i’m being medically managed and i’m doing okay. i feel better than i have in a long time. i’m up to 40 minutes again on a treadmill. i can’t go fast but i still try. i will never stop trying.”
after returning to work this july, goodlife ceo and founder david patchell-evens called her to let her know about the annual award he’d created in her honour, the heather evans braveheart award, to recognize an exceptional company employee. she was thrilled and humbled.
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“when i’m in the hospital, my members would come and visit me and i’d tell them to not focus on me and get back to the gym,” she laughs.
her advice to others is to know your family medical history, get your blood pressure checked and always be ready to speak up for your health. “if you feel like something’s wrong, don’t just let it go” – and get active.
after all this, she still has a big heart that is filled with purpose.
“you just get up every day and deal with what you can. i might take a moment in the bathroom to shed a tear if i need to and then i wipe it away. because you can’t let this break your spirit.”
for more information and support services for hypertension, visit heart and stroke.
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