The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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February 7, 2010

Andra Bryan Stefanoni: Support group formed for heart attack patients

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Susan Knell knew little to nothing about women’s heart health until a year ago.

Since then, she has become an advocate and public speaker for awareness, education and prevention.

Knell said that last January, at age 52, she “wasn’t too terribly old,” nor did she “look like someone” who would have a heart attack.

She carried maybe 10 to 20 extra pounds, but she worked out regularly at Curves.

So when she began experiencing nausea, shortness of breath and headaches — popping so many Tylenol that she lost count — she attributed it to stress, the weather or a bug.

Knell visited her daughter in Lawrence, did some shopping, saw a movie, went to church. She plowed through the discomfort. Friends at the Mall Deli told her over lunch that she looked “gray.” Friends at Curves told her to call a doctor.

A heart attack was the last thing on her mind; she said she imagined that to be a “grab-your-chest kind of deal when you just drop.”

But for women, it’s different.

And when Knell did finally contact her doctor four days after symptoms began, she was told to go to the emergency room immediately. There, she was put on a helicopter to Kansas City for treatment that included heart catheterization.

In her hospital room, a visit from two women who brought her a little red bag, a handmade, knitted red scarf and some information about heart health changed her life.

She learned about Women Heart, a national organization with hundreds of regional support groups across the United States. But she found no such support group in the area where she needed one: Southeast Kansas. She would have settled for something in Southwest Missouri, Northwest Arkansas or Northeast Oklahoma. There was nothing.

After applying for and attending a symposium at the Mayo Clinic, where she heard survivor stories from other women, Knell started a chapter called Women Heart of SEK.

“Women need to talk to others who are going through what I went through,” she said. “Meeting someone makes a difference.”

The group’s first gathering was a few weeks ago, and Knell is planning educational and support meetings for future months.

She wastes no time, meanwhile, spreading the word about women’s heart health to anyone who will listen, including an event last week at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage, Mo. She plans to attend an event this spring at Names & Numbers in Pittsburg. She also will be the featured presenter at Mount Carmel Regional Medical Center’s Lunch and Learn program, “An Equal Opportunity Disease: Women and Heart Disease” slated for noon Friday in dePaul Hall. The cost is $3 and includes lunch. Reservations may be made by contacting Mount Carmel’s community relations department at 620-235-3581.

“It’s the No. 1 killer of women, five times more so than breast cancer,” Knell said. “People need to know how to live with it, the changes you can make knowing your risk factors, and how to be an advocate for yourself with your doctor — not hesitating to ask questions and make sure you get the right response.

“One of my main goals is to let people know not only about the Women Heart organization, but if I can keep one woman from having what happened to me — to recognize the symptoms and get help immediately — that’s what I want to do.”

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