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Women's Cardiovascular Healthcare Foundation
Agir pour le Coeur des Femmes
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TESTIMONIALS
Nurse (Issoire, France)

Emilie, 36 years old

Emilie, 36 years old

I lost my husband suddenly in July 2019. After he passed away, I had treatment with a psychiatrist. We had three young daughters and I had to keep fighting for them. I didn’t smoke, but was very stressed by all the things I had to take on by myself. In September 2019, about two months after my husband died, I was having a calm day at home with my girls. I had all the symptoms of a heart attack. I work in cardiology and I know these signs well. First, I had pain in my lower chest that felt like a stomachache. Then this morphed into pressure and tightness in my chest. After that, I felt pain and numbness in my left arm and pain in my jaw that finally radiated into my back. I called the EMS. My electrocardiogram readings had changed and my troponin levels had increased. I was admitted to intensive care immediately with a suspected heart attack. But the coronary angiography was negative. In reality, it was a stress—or takotsubo—cardiomyopathy. My heart had been broken by my husband’s death. Things like this don’t just happen to other people. I knew the symptoms since I’m a cardiology nurse. So I want my story to help other women listen to their bodies and get help when they feel unusual or persistent cardiac symptoms. Thank you to Women’s Cardiovascular Healthcare Foundation (Agir pour le Cœur des Femmes) for the work they’re doing.

 
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Anaïs, 37 years old

Real Estate Accountant, Belleville-en-Beaujolais

Three years ago, I started feeling a steady pain near my left shoulder blade. It went away when I applied anti-inflammatory cream. Nothing to worry about. Then I started feeling a tingling sensation when I climbed stairs. I saw my doctor, who ordered a troponin test to put my mind at ease. In his [...]

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Hélène, 26 years old

Medical Resident (Lille, France)

I’m a resident in my fifth semester and plan to specialize in emergency medicine. Something I recently experienced during a shift in the emergency department led me to do my thesis on coronary syndrome in women. This illness has been on the rise among women for many years. While men receive good [...]

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Marinette, 75 years old

Retired teacher, Coulanges-sur-Yonne

"This Thursday, I have to go shopping in Auxerre. In the morning, I read in the Yonne Républicaine newspaper that a screening operation for cardiovascular disease for women was taking place at the Salle Vaulabelle. I took the risk of going there without an appointment... Luckily, I was immediately [...]

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