她从心脏骤停中活了下来. 她丈夫没有.

丹妮尔·麦科利安的房子需要装修一下. While at the post office, she saw an ad on the bulletin board for a guy who did remodeling.

她打电话，他就出来了，就这样. 他们结婚时，她39岁，乔32岁. 一年后，他们决定组建一个家庭. After several miscarriages, she used in vitro fertilization to become pregnant with twins.

她在怀孕30周时因先兆子痫住院, a type of high blood pressure that occurs during pregnancy; otherwise, 怀孕和分娩都很顺利, 婴儿吉安娜和乔伊都很健康. 丹妮尔在接下来的几周内出现了肩部疼痛, 她把这归因于带着两个婴儿.

有一天晚上, she and Joe left the babies with Joe's aunt and went to a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. 当她回到家时, 她肩膀疼得很厉害, 于是乔打电话给她的产科医生. 他打电话的时候，丹妮尔昏倒了. 她的心脏停止了跳动.

乔拨打了911. 他知道心肺复苏术，于是开始进行胸部按压. 在医院，丹妮尔进入了药物诱导昏迷状态. Doctors put a stent in one artery that was blocked in two places and another in an artery that was 100% blocked. 她被诊断为自发性冠状动脉夹层, a rare cause of heart attack that occurs when blood flow is blocked because of a separation, 或撕裂, 在冠状动脉壁的衬里.

In the hospital, Danielle was afraid to go to sleep, fearing that she wouldn't wake up. Her obstetrician and cardiologist told her what happened was likely related to her pregnancy. They also reassured her that the further she got from delivery without any repercussions, 她越有可能没事.

Her heart function indeed returned to the level of someone who never had a heart attack, 生活还在继续. She and Joe loved spending time together and watching the twins get older.

乔伊和吉安娜大约四岁时，乔开始出现健康问题. 他的腿和脚踝肿了起来. 他连系鞋带都不会. At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, he had extreme fatigue, sleep problems and heartburn.

心脏病对乔的家人来说并不陌生. His father had a massive and debilitating stroke at age 58 and died 12 years later. His mother had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat. Yet for Joe, bloodwork showed no abnormal heart function, Danielle said. 肾脏问题似乎更有可能.

1月. 2019年9月29日，乔在家，感觉不太舒服. Danielle went to work that day, and afterward picked up the twins from kindergarten. When she returned, the house was dark; she sensed something was wrong. 她让孩子们在楼下等着. 然后她找到了乔. She started 心肺复苏, but he was gone, having died of sudden cardiac arrest. 他没有确诊 心肌病.

“当时我自己的心脏状况也很糟糕,她说, “而是因为我的预后很好，而且康复得很快, 我能从这一切中走出来. 然后你的丈夫突然去世了."

她停顿了一下. “这是一段漫长的旅程."

Danielle makes sure to tell the twins stories of how she and their dad met, 给他们看照片, 分享他是怎样的一个人. She makes sure the family gets plenty of exercise – Gianna takes four different dance classes; Joey plays football and baseball – and eats heart-healthy foods.

"For a long time, it was just a fact of life we dealt with: Daddy isn't here,她说. “但现在他们长大了, we've talked a number of times about how we have to make sure their hearts are healthy, 哪个爸爸不是."

家族的心脏病史导致乔的妹妹, 艾米·诺瓦克, 加入了美国心脏协会. 她是当地Go Red for Women执行领导团队的一员.

"Everyone knows someone whose life has been affected by heart disease," Novak said. "Our family background is so entwined with losses and survivors due to heart disease, it's become easier to tell a personal story to encourage people to help."

这对双胞胎也在帮助提高人们的意识. 二年级的时候, 他们带回家一本关于儿童心脏挑战的小册子, an AHA fundraiser focused on teaching kids to keep their hearts healthy.

我告诉他们, 'Oh, we should do this in memory of Dad and raise money so other people don't have to live without their dad like we do,’”丹妮尔说。. “他是一个心胸宽广的人，一个心胸宽广的大个子."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.