Make the Call. Don’t Miss a Beat

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

Melissa Mia Hall, 1954-2011

Melissa Hall's dog Daisy — ***Melissa Mia Hall’s book-reviewing dog, Daisy***

Texas author, artist and book industry journalist Melissa Mia Hall once wrote: “When I need help writing book reviews, my dog Daisy is always eager to lend a paw.” After trying to lift Daisy recently, Melissa felt an odd pain in her chest. She told her editor at Publishers Weekly that she had pulled a muscle. She later emailed a friend:

“Right now really hurting. Hurt my chest/back last night lifting Daisy wrong. She’s too heavy and I pulled a muscle, I guess. I thought at first I was having a heart attack it was so awful. Tonight I’m really hurting still. Ibuprofen’s not helping much. Using heating pad. It’s been a long painful day and hard to concentrate on much. Why now? Sigh… xoxo” Continue reading “Melissa Mia Hall, who couldn’t afford health insurance, dies of heart attack” →

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

Of course you know what a heart attack looks like:

The victim stops what they’re doing.
Their eyes open wide.
They clutch their chest, make some funny noises, and then they collapse to the floor. Right?

Wrong. (Don’t believe everything you see on TV!) That scenario describes sudden cardiac arrest, not heart attack. The two are not the same thing at all. The heart attack awareness campaign called “Make The Call – Don’t Miss a Beat” tells us how symptoms of the classic “Hollywood Heart Attack” can differ from the actual reality for most women. Continue reading “The myth of the “Hollywood Heart Attack” for women” →