Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hertfeat Saint Louis with.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
AKAIG Holiday bringing you the pulse of the city. Hey,
what's up? Picture boy, doctor DJ? The DJ Holiday? And
as this is February.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
And I know a lot of people were celebrating Valentine's Day,
but this is the month of American Heart Month. I
do believe it is, and I have in the studio
right now, Madeline. I don't know why I stumbled over that.
I sound like I had some alcohol. Anyway, Madeline Alexander
(00:40):
from the American Heart Association in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How are you doing?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How are you? Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You know me?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always tell everybody every day is a holidays, right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And you know the reason why that is right, because
you're doctor Holliday. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
No, But for real though, I just think that every
day we need to celebrate. Anytime we get a chance
to wake up, we should just celebrate that and just
enjoy today. Now, some holidays are worse than others, you know,
so I'm about it than others. That is kind of
how I look at it. But anyway, Madeline is from
the American Heart Association and this is natural American Heart Month,
(01:20):
which is every February not just Valentine's Day, not just
Black History months. Right, this is the most important thing.
It is American Heart Awareness Month. Yes, all right, so
you work with the American Heart Association. Why is this
so important that we have this month to bring awareness
to heart disease.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, heart disease is the number one killer of Americans,
and like most diseases, it disproportionately affects black people. So
we want to make sure that we are raising awareness,
that people understand what their risks are, and that people
are living a heart healthy life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, you know, I'll tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I've had family, you know, history of people in my
family having you know, heart disease and stuff like that,
and you know, like congestive heart failure and things. But
the one time that it really got me and threw
me way out of wack, my daughter was thirty years
(02:24):
old and she had a heart attack, remember that at
thirty And she was just as well, you know what, adancer,
you know, nothing wrong, and then the next thing you know,
they're going, well she's having a heart attack. And so
that right there just kind of took my intendans, although
my intenders were up, took them way up.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So what are some of the things people need to do.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Uh to prevent you know, heart you know, conditions and
stuff like that, or heart disease.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
So there are things, you know, there are things risk
factors that we can't control your weight, your blood pressure,
your cholesterol. But there are things that are out of
our control. You know, our family history being one of them.
You know, that is the you know, again we talked
(03:16):
about you know, black people being disproportionately affected, you know,
our race. But the biggest thing not only controlling the
risk factors, but in an event that you have a
heart attack or have a stroke, that you're aware of
what those symptoms are, that you're in tune with your body.
So that's again making sure that you know those numbers
(03:38):
and knowing those warning signs that when something seems off,
making sure that you get it checked out. And you know,
we know ourselves better than our doctors. So even going
to the doctor, if you know something is not right,
you be your biggest advocate and make sure that you
get the answers that you need.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Now, the one thing I do know a lot of
people don't go to the doctor because they don't want
the answer.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I understand, and then we hear and we hear that
and it's I won't say it's no, like I understand.
But again, there are things that we can control. So
even if you get a diagnosis or they tell you,
you know, you have high blood pressure, they will also
give you the steps to make sure that you can manage,
(04:26):
you know, manage whatever that issue is. But you know,
we have to know and not only and think about this,
not only for us, but again we talk about that
family history. We need to know that for the rest
of our families, for our children, right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
That part because a lot of times there's not a
lot of communication about what happened to granddad.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We just know he died. We just know he died, auntie,
uncle exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You know that type of thing, and and not a
lot of discussion about what's going on with the parent
themselves to the child to say, hey, you need to
make sure when you're going to the doctor, you're on
your own. You know, you need to start you know,
know that looking for this sign and then asking these questions.
You know that type of thing. And I know that,
(05:12):
like I said, a lot of people don't want to answer.
But in the studio right now, we got t Arrah Johnson.
She was pregnant, and I do believe I think things
were pretty good while she was pregnant, and then after
she was after she had the baby, I assumed that
you had the baby, right yeap? And what did you
(05:32):
have just this that moment?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know what I mean? Child name and you know
girl boy?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So I had a daughter. My husband and I got married,
and of course we plan to have a child, and
I had a normal pregnancy up until the last week.
My blood pressure just kind of got out of control,
and so I went to the doctor and I ended
up being induced. And so I come home with my
baby and something just doesn't feel right now. I had
a child prior to two seven years prior, so I
(06:01):
know what childbirth and after birth, how all of that works.
So I'm home and I can't breathe, and it's not
better when I sit up in the recliner. It doesn't
alleviate when I'm laying down. And so I stayed that
way for about a day or two, and I told
my husband, I said, I'm going to get in the shower.
Once I get out the shower, if I don't feel better,
(06:22):
I'm going to the hospital. I go to the hospital
and I'm immediately dismissed. You just had a baby a
few days ago. This is normal postpartum, you know. They
get a little fluid off me and send me on
my way home. I'm home again, I don't feel well.
I go back to the hospital. So I had my
daughter July thirty first, and for the first week of
(06:43):
her life, I went back to the hospital multiple times,
and I kept getting the same answer, You're fine, it's
normal postpartum, until I just got fed up. I went
to a completely different hospital because I knew something was
not right. I couldn't breathe by that time. I get
to a new hospital and I'm officially diagnosed with postpartum
(07:04):
cardio myopathy. But by this time I am in full
blown congestive heart failure. My heart function has declined until
ten percent. It's functioning at ten percent of a person's
normal heart function, and so that was the beginning of
my journey. They immediately put me in a life vest
(07:25):
where I had to wear this device around in case
my heart stopped to revive my heart, and it just
became an eight year journey for me. Postpartum cardio myopathy
is not something that is detectable, so to speak, it
doesn't matter if you're overweight. You can be skinny, you
can be heavy set. It can happen to anyone. I
(07:47):
didn't have any pre existing conditions besides being a little
bit overweight prior to having my daughter, and from there
it just became endless doctor's visits, hospital visits. The first
year of my daughter's life, I spent more time in
the hospital than I spent at home, and so I
(08:08):
was following up with my doctors, and at about year three,
my heart function just it wasn't getting better. I dwindled
down to eight percent, and so they sent me off
to another hospital for advanced cardiology, and that's when I
began to get the work up for a mechanical heart
device called a heart MAD three and ELVAD, and I
(08:30):
was implanted with that in my heart to kind of
bridge me until I can get to the point to
be listed for a transplant, which is a whole entire
journey with getting a heart because there are a lot
of requirements. There are a lot of things that you
have to do, and they want to make sure that
if you are receiving an organ, you're in tip top
(08:50):
shape so that that organ is able to live.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
On man, I never heard of that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, it's unfortunately it's not on a a pamphlet and
when you go to the obgyn as a woman, it's
not on a poster on a wall or a magazine
on the table. And so that's why it's so important
the work that the American Heart Association is doing to
get the word out there because a lot of women
are having children and this is not something that's routinely
(09:19):
talked about at your obgyn appointment, and so it's important
to get the word out there too moms, birthing moms,
to let them know this is a possibility and these
are the things that you need to look out for.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
So how is life for you now?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Life is great. So I lived with a mechanical heart
pump for three years. I finally was able to be
listed for a heart transplant in twenty twenty one October
nineteen to be exact, and I got the call twenty
days later for a heart. I do consider myself to
be lucky because there are people who wait years and
(09:56):
years and years on that list, and that was nothing
but the grace of God. I feel like everything that
I've been through, I'm here for a reason. I'm here
for a purpose. I'm here to be the physical representation
to let other women know even if you are diagnosed
with heart failure of some form or congestive heart failure,
(10:17):
it's not the end of the world. Follow your doctor's recommendations.
If you're not being heard, if you feel like you're
not being listened, to seek a second opinion, a third,
a fourth, don't stop because you are your own best advocate.
You know your body, You're living in your body, and
you have to be persistent because it's your life at
the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It is so true.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So I guess the main thing is is that when
women go, you know, to the obg yn, they need
to have these conversations about, you know, when they're going
through pregnancy, to talk about the after you know, affects
of pregnancy and how heart disease can play a role
in it after they delivered a baby. Because to my understanding,
(11:04):
you you kept going back to the hospital and they
kept going, oh, no, it's just blah blah blah blah blah,
yeah until you decided to take that step. But you,
like you said, those conversations never happened in the doctor's office.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Never never and even going to the hospital. You have
medical professionals who you're trusting. You're trusting for them to
do what's best for you. And to be dismissed as
a black woman that it's harmful, it does more harm
because a lot of women will shut down or they
say I'm fine, and they'll go home and just deal
(11:39):
with the symptoms. When I finally went to the hospital
and I was diagnosed, that cardiologist told me if I
had stayed home another day, I would have drowned inside
my body. That's how much fluid had backed up into
my lungs and into my liver to where my heart
was straining to pump blood to the rest of my
organs in my body. And so you can't allow anybody
(12:03):
to just dismiss what you're feeling. It can be the
subtlest thing. Every day you're having a headache and it's
hard to breathe when you're climbing stairs. That's something you
need to go and get checked out. It's better to
get it checked out and it turns out to be
nothing or something minor than to wait and it starts
affecting larger things in your body.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Man, I couldn't have said that any better, Madeline. If
people want to get more information about the American Heart
Association and you know, the National American Heart Month, which
is February, is their website phone number people can call
any events coming up.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Absolutely so for all heart related information or health related information,
heart dot org is the website. They can find information
about pairapartum cardiomyopathy, which is what Sierra tim You can
find risk factors, you can find a wealth of information.
(13:06):
You're looking for healthy recipes. All of that information is
on the website. Things that we have coming up, we
do have our Go Red for Women luncheon which is
in April, and we do have our Heart Walk which
is coming up at the end of May. Again, all
of that information is on that website and we hope
that people will visit it again. To Tierra's point, if
(13:31):
there are things that they are questioning, you know, again
not to self diagnose on the website, but there is
some information that if they're experiencing symptoms, you can look
all of that up on the website.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And what's that website once again, heart dot or org.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Alrighty, well, thank you ladies so much for coming in,
and Tierra, thank you so much having the carriage to
tell your story and your journey.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We really appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Thank you for having me, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
This has been another edition of Heartbeats A Lewis with
BJ Djaka BJ Holiday, bringing you the pulse of the city.
Hertfeat Saint Louis with.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
AKAIG Holiday bringing you the pulse of the city. Hey,
what's up? Picture boy, doctor DJ? The DJ Holiday? And
as this is February.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
And I know a lot of people were celebrating Valentine's Day,
but this is the month of American Heart Month. I
do believe it is, and I have in the studio
right now, Madeline. I don't know why I stumbled over that.
I sound like I had some alcohol. Anyway, Madeline Alexander
(00:40):
from the American Heart Association in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How are you doing?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How are you? Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
You know me?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always tell everybody every day is a holidays, right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And you know the reason why that is right, because
you're doctor Holliday. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
No, But for real though, I just think that every
day we need to celebrate. Anytime we get a chance
to wake up, we should just celebrate that and just
enjoy today. Now, some holidays are worse than others, you know,
so I'm about it than others. That is kind of
how I look at it. But anyway, Madeline is from
the American Heart Association and this is natural American Heart Month,
(01:20):
which is every February not just Valentine's Day, not just
Black History months. Right, this is the most important thing.
It is American Heart Awareness Month. Yes, all right, so
you work with the American Heart Association. Why is this
so important that we have this month to bring awareness
to heart disease.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, heart disease is the number one killer of Americans,
and like most diseases, it disproportionately affects black people. So
we want to make sure that we are raising awareness,
that people understand what their risks are, and that people
are living a heart healthy life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, you know, I'll tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I've had family, you know, history of people in my
family having you know, heart disease and stuff like that,
and you know, like congestive heart failure and things. But
the one time that it really got me and threw
me way out of wack, my daughter was thirty years
(02:24):
old and she had a heart attack, remember that at
thirty And she was just as well, you know what, adancer,
you know, nothing wrong, and then the next thing you know,
they're going, well she's having a heart attack. And so
that right there just kind of took my intendans, although
my intenders were up, took them way up.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So what are some of the things people need to do.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Uh to prevent you know, heart you know, conditions and
stuff like that, or heart disease.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
So there are things, you know, there are things risk
factors that we can't control your weight, your blood pressure,
your cholesterol. But there are things that are out of
our control. You know, our family history being one of them.
You know, that is the you know, again we talked
(03:16):
about you know, black people being disproportionately affected, you know,
our race. But the biggest thing not only controlling the
risk factors, but in an event that you have a
heart attack or have a stroke, that you're aware of
what those symptoms are, that you're in tune with your body.
So that's again making sure that you know those numbers
(03:38):
and knowing those warning signs that when something seems off,
making sure that you get it checked out. And you know,
we know ourselves better than our doctors. So even going
to the doctor, if you know something is not right,
you be your biggest advocate and make sure that you
get the answers that you need.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Now, the one thing I do know a lot of
people don't go to the doctor because they don't want
the answer.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I understand, and then we hear and we hear that
and it's I won't say it's no, like I understand.
But again, there are things that we can control. So
even if you get a diagnosis or they tell you,
you know, you have high blood pressure, they will also
give you the steps to make sure that you can manage,
(04:26):
you know, manage whatever that issue is. But you know,
we have to know and not only and think about this,
not only for us, but again we talk about that
family history. We need to know that for the rest
of our families, for our children, right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
That part because a lot of times there's not a
lot of communication about what happened to granddad.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We just know he died. We just know he died, auntie,
uncle exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
You know that type of thing, and and not a
lot of discussion about what's going on with the parent
themselves to the child to say, hey, you need to
make sure when you're going to the doctor, you're on
your own. You know, you need to start you know,
know that looking for this sign and then asking these questions.
You know that type of thing. And I know that,
(05:12):
like I said, a lot of people don't want to answer.
But in the studio right now, we got t Arrah Johnson.
She was pregnant, and I do believe I think things
were pretty good while she was pregnant, and then after
she was after she had the baby, I assumed that
you had the baby, right yeap? And what did you
(05:32):
have just this that moment?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know what I mean? Child name and you know
girl boy?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So I had a daughter. My husband and I got married,
and of course we plan to have a child, and
I had a normal pregnancy up until the last week.
My blood pressure just kind of got out of control,
and so I went to the doctor and I ended
up being induced. And so I come home with my
baby and something just doesn't feel right now. I had
a child prior to two seven years prior, so I
(06:01):
know what childbirth and after birth, how all of that works.
So I'm home and I can't breathe, and it's not
better when I sit up in the recliner. It doesn't
alleviate when I'm laying down. And so I stayed that
way for about a day or two, and I told
my husband, I said, I'm going to get in the shower.
Once I get out the shower, if I don't feel better,
(06:22):
I'm going to the hospital. I go to the hospital
and I'm immediately dismissed. You just had a baby a
few days ago. This is normal postpartum, you know. They
get a little fluid off me and send me on
my way home. I'm home again, I don't feel well.
I go back to the hospital. So I had my
daughter July thirty first, and for the first week of
(06:43):
her life, I went back to the hospital multiple times,
and I kept getting the same answer, You're fine, it's
normal postpartum, until I just got fed up. I went
to a completely different hospital because I knew something was
not right. I couldn't breathe by that time. I get
to a new hospital and I'm officially diagnosed with postpartum
(07:04):
cardio myopathy. But by this time I am in full
blown congestive heart failure. My heart function has declined until
ten percent. It's functioning at ten percent of a person's
normal heart function, and so that was the beginning of
my journey. They immediately put me in a life vest
(07:25):
where I had to wear this device around in case
my heart stopped to revive my heart, and it just
became an eight year journey for me. Postpartum cardio myopathy
is not something that is detectable, so to speak, it
doesn't matter if you're overweight. You can be skinny, you
can be heavy set. It can happen to anyone. I
(07:47):
didn't have any pre existing conditions besides being a little
bit overweight prior to having my daughter, and from there
it just became endless doctor's visits, hospital visits. The first
year of my daughter's life, I spent more time in
the hospital than I spent at home, and so I
(08:08):
was following up with my doctors, and at about year three,
my heart function just it wasn't getting better. I dwindled
down to eight percent, and so they sent me off
to another hospital for advanced cardiology, and that's when I
began to get the work up for a mechanical heart
device called a heart MAD three and ELVAD, and I
(08:30):
was implanted with that in my heart to kind of
bridge me until I can get to the point to
be listed for a transplant, which is a whole entire
journey with getting a heart because there are a lot
of requirements. There are a lot of things that you
have to do, and they want to make sure that
if you are receiving an organ, you're in tip top
(08:50):
shape so that that organ is able to live.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
On man, I never heard of that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, it's unfortunately it's not on a a pamphlet and
when you go to the obgyn as a woman, it's
not on a poster on a wall or a magazine
on the table. And so that's why it's so important
the work that the American Heart Association is doing to
get the word out there because a lot of women
are having children and this is not something that's routinely
(09:19):
talked about at your obgyn appointment, and so it's important
to get the word out there too moms, birthing moms,
to let them know this is a possibility and these
are the things that you need to look out for.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
So how is life for you now?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Life is great. So I lived with a mechanical heart
pump for three years. I finally was able to be
listed for a heart transplant in twenty twenty one October
nineteen to be exact, and I got the call twenty
days later for a heart. I do consider myself to
be lucky because there are people who wait years and
(09:56):
years and years on that list, and that was nothing
but the grace of God. I feel like everything that
I've been through, I'm here for a reason. I'm here
for a purpose. I'm here to be the physical representation
to let other women know even if you are diagnosed
with heart failure of some form or congestive heart failure,
(10:17):
it's not the end of the world. Follow your doctor's recommendations.
If you're not being heard, if you feel like you're
not being listened, to seek a second opinion, a third,
a fourth, don't stop because you are your own best advocate.
You know your body, You're living in your body, and
you have to be persistent because it's your life at
the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It is so true.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So I guess the main thing is is that when
women go, you know, to the obg yn, they need
to have these conversations about, you know, when they're going
through pregnancy, to talk about the after you know, affects
of pregnancy and how heart disease can play a role
in it after they delivered a baby. Because to my understanding,
(11:04):
you you kept going back to the hospital and they
kept going, oh, no, it's just blah blah blah blah blah,
yeah until you decided to take that step. But you,
like you said, those conversations never happened in the doctor's office.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Never never and even going to the hospital. You have
medical professionals who you're trusting. You're trusting for them to
do what's best for you. And to be dismissed as
a black woman that it's harmful, it does more harm
because a lot of women will shut down or they
say I'm fine, and they'll go home and just deal
(11:39):
with the symptoms. When I finally went to the hospital
and I was diagnosed, that cardiologist told me if I
had stayed home another day, I would have drowned inside
my body. That's how much fluid had backed up into
my lungs and into my liver to where my heart
was straining to pump blood to the rest of my
organs in my body. And so you can't allow anybody
(12:03):
to just dismiss what you're feeling. It can be the
subtlest thing. Every day you're having a headache and it's
hard to breathe when you're climbing stairs. That's something you
need to go and get checked out. It's better to
get it checked out and it turns out to be
nothing or something minor than to wait and it starts
affecting larger things in your body.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Man, I couldn't have said that any better, Madeline. If
people want to get more information about the American Heart
Association and you know, the National American Heart Month, which
is February, is their website phone number people can call
any events coming up.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Absolutely so for all heart related information or health related information,
heart dot org is the website. They can find information
about pairapartum cardiomyopathy, which is what Sierra tim You can
find risk factors, you can find a wealth of information.
(13:06):
You're looking for healthy recipes. All of that information is
on the website. Things that we have coming up, we
do have our Go Red for Women luncheon which is
in April, and we do have our Heart Walk which
is coming up at the end of May. Again, all
of that information is on that website and we hope
that people will visit it again. To Tierra's point, if
(13:31):
there are things that they are questioning, you know, again
not to self diagnose on the website, but there is
some information that if they're experiencing symptoms, you can look
all of that up on the website.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And what's that website once again, heart dot or org.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Alrighty, well, thank you ladies so much for coming in,
and Tierra, thank you so much having the carriage to
tell your story and your journey.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We really appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Thank you for having me, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
This has been another edition of Heartbeats A Lewis with
BJ Djaka BJ Holiday, bringing you the pulse of the city.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!