From Heart to Heart
After surviving Acute Heart Failure at 33 years old I felt very alone in my recovery. I had never met anyone with heart failure let alone someone near my age. After beginning to share my story publicly and on social media I began meeting many other people who had also survived Acute Heart Failure. Some of these people had experienced it years before me, some had received a heart transplant and others were loved ones with family members currently hospitalized due to it. Connecting with these patients and family members was carthartic and opened my eyes to a whole new community of people I now had much in common with. I wanted to create this podcast so that other people who experienced heart failure could find this community of beautiful people and find the same hope and comfort that I did from hearing their stories. I hope that this podcast not only opens your eyes to a whole new community of brave, inspiring individuals, but that you also learn more about heart failure and all the ways in which it can affect people. Thank you for being here!
Disclaimer: This podcast does not include any medical advice and should not be taken as such. All views are our own and they are based upon individual lived experiences. Please speak with your healthcare provider if you have any questions related to your own health.
If you'd like to follow along on my heart failure advocacy and recovery journey you can find me on Instagram @hillarysheart. For any questions, comments or inquiries you can contact me via email at hillary@hillarysheart.com.
From Heart to Heart
Michelle Averitt - Cardiac Arrest
In this episode you get to meet my friend, Michelle. I was so encouraged after this conversation. Michelle’s cardiac arrest happened in 2011 and yet she’s still out here sharing and bringing awareness to what happened to her. I can only hope that I’ll be doing the same in another decade or so.
Michelle's story is one of incredible resilience while enduring many trials. In 2011 while in her early 30’s, Michelle was a wife and young mother. She was incredibly active running 4 miles a day and very health conscious. So it was very shocking when her husband at the time realized she wasn’t breathing in bed and began performing CPR on her. Michelle tells her story about all that she remembers from her multiple hospitalizations, being in a coma for nearly a month and how a tiny heart pump saved her life and heart.
To follow along on Michelle's journey you can find her on Instagram @aquariusaveritt
For more on heart failure and my own heart failure recovery you can follow me on Instagram @hillarysheart
For more information on the Impella heart pump go to abiomed.com
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🫀, Hillary