HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- CBS 6 has shared stories of survivors and people advocating to raise awareness about heart disease during American Heart Month in February.
One of the people profiled was a Henrico mother of three who felt some heart attack warning signs for multiple days.
“My chest started hurting," Jasmine Storrs recalled. "It was almost like cramps, but just in my chest. So it was more irritating and naggy than, 'Oh, my gosh, something is wrong.'"
But Storrs ignored the symptoms because she assumed they were postpartum aftereffects.
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Young Virginia mother shares near-death experience with GeNienne Samuels
When she arrived at the hospital, a blood test later revealed a shocking abnormality: her troponin levels were 41,000.
"[The doctor] said, we've never seen anyone have those high levels of troponin," she said. "He was like, 'You've been having a heart attack for a couple of days.'"
Doctors then rushed her into surgery for a cardiac catheterization.
"The very next day, the pain came back and it was like, times ten," she said.
Then at three the next morning, after another EKG, she got another visit from her care team.
“Two cardiologists and six nurses came, and they surrounded my bed," she said.
The team told her she was having another heart attack and experiencing heart failure and that they needed to act fast and without the surgery she would die.
"I started crying," she said.
Doctors told her they'd already called her husband and he approved the surgery — an open heart, double bypass surgery.
Now she urges everyone, especially new moms, to pay attention to their bodies and be proactive with their care.
"I feel like my purpose here is to educate people on the risk of heart attacks and just to be their own lifesaver when it comes to advocating for yourself. Please listen to the signs. I can't say it enough," she said. "Don't ever let somebody write your story. You write your own story. Just being in this position to be able to talk about my story and having this new purpose in life, it makes me happy about my outlook, to be honest. And I haven't been happy in a long time after this whole ordeal. So I'm just happy and optimistic.”
CBS 6 Anchor GeNienne Samuels recently surprised Storrs as part of CBS 6 Gives, which is made possible by Virginia Credit Union.
"I have a little secret that I want to let you in on," GeNienne said. "I'm not here to actually interview you about the Go Red Luncheon... We want to honor you."
GeNienne told Storrs that a $300 donation was being made to the American Heart Association in her name. Additionally, GeNienne gave her a $200 gift card.
"You’re going to make me cry again," Storrs said. "Thank ya'll. That is so beautiful. And it says love. Ya'll really love me."
CBS 6 Gives is made possible by Virginia Credit Union. Have an idea about who we should surprise next,
click here to email our team.
