Jennifer Valentine’s colleague, longtime friend and neighbor Rebecca McCormack took her up early at her home in York, South Carolina, for a ride to the airport. The oncology technicians at a canc3r center were off to a conference in Salt Lake City.
At the airport, they had breakfast at a fast-food restaurant before the 4.5-hour flight. Valentine selected fried hashed browns and a gravy biscuit.
Two months earlier, she’d begun exercising and eating more nutritious meals. Valentine’s weight had yo-yoed greatly during much of her 35 years. She had recently shed 12 pounds from a high of 229 (she’s 5-foot-6) and wanted to lose much more.
On the plane, her breath suddenly became labored. She couldn’t understand why. She’d never been afraid of flying.
Just breathe normally, she told herself. Maybe this is what a panic accident feels like, she thought.
She told McCormack that she felt a fleeting pain in her left shoulder. Then Valentine went to the bathroom. While there, she became sickish and then overheated. Back in her seat, she began to shake so badly and then she couldn’t hold the orange juice she’d ordered.
She wondered if her friend could be having a heart atta.ck but didn’t want to warn her.
“Do you want me to call for help?” she asked Valentine.
“No, we’ll be there within an hour,” Valentine said.
McCormack sat her down and got her some water.
Just as suddenly as they began, Valentine’s symptoms decreased.
At the hotel, Valentine went to take a nap. She called her husband to share him know what occured.
She got up to comb her hair and prepare to sign in at the conference. Once again, she felt out of breath.
She went to McCormack’s room in tears. They called a doctor at their workplace for advice.
“Get to urgent care or an ER now,” he told her.
At urgent care, a nurse worked an electrocardiogram. She tore the results off the machine and left the room. When she returned a few minutes later, she told Valentine: “An ambulance is on the way. You need to go to the ER.”
By this point, Valentine was feeling normal again.
Valentine protested when doctors said they were taking her to the cardiac catheterization lab for further diagnostic tests, but ultimately relented.
An hour later, when they woke her up, a doctor told her she sufferd from a heart att.ack. He showed her two images.
One was of her right coronary artery, 100% blocked. Blood wasn’t flowing.
The other was after they placed a stent. Blood was flowing.
Valentine knew there were heart problems on her father’s side of the family but hadn’t been concerned.
“When you’re younger, you don’t think it will happen to you,” she said.
McCormack stayed with Valentine the first night at the hospital. Her husband arrived the next day. When they flew home together, she kept her eyes closed and her head on his shoulder.
Valentine was determined to lose weight and exercise. Although she couldn’t alter her genetics, she knew that becoming healthier would decrease her risk of heart disease.
But once she was home, she sh0cked.
“I felt like I was a ticking time bomb,” Valentine said.
“Anytime I was trying to plan groceries, I’d just begin crying. I didn’t even know what I could eat.”
She restricted her sodium and saturated fat intake. She changed her bread and flour from white to whole wheat. She cut out most processed foods. She also started walking daily.
In the years since the heart attack, which occured in 2018, Valentine has lost 92 pounds. She now weighs 137. Last summer she stopped taking anxiety medication.
Valentine, now 40, frequently shares about her challenges and achievements on her TikTok page, where she has more than 19,000 followers.
“It’s been a great way to reach out and help other people,” she said.
“I was a horrible eater, eating for convenience instead of for my body,” said McCormack.
“She still has her moments here and there, but she’s doing so much better,” McCormack said.
“Mostly I feel fortunate to still have her here with me.”
