Irene Redondo Churchward

Finally learning to care for herself as well as others

Strong and nurturing, Irene Redondo Churchward is the prototypical woman caregiver. Her children and husband always come first, and she directs a non-profit organization devoted to helping the less fortunate in the East Los Angeles area. So when she began coughing and having trouble breathing 3 years ago, her problems were low on her list of priorities.

"It was early December, and it's not unusual for me to crash that time of year," says Churchward, an Executive Director of a non-profit organization. "I saw a physician's assistant, who said my lungs were a little congested and gave me some medications. Even when I had to sit down while shopping in the stores, I thought I would be fine once I got some rest after Christmas."

Her condition, however, did not improve, and she saw another doctor just before Martin Luther King Day. This physician attributed her ill health to the medications and wrote a new prescription. A few days later, Churchward was lying on her bathroom floor in a cold sweat, arising only to vomit several times. Still, she went to work the next day. But after experiencing severe chest pain that evening, she finally went to the hospital, where an angiogram showed that 90% of one artery and 70% of the other were blocked.

Churchward was among the tens of thousands of women each year who are unaware that certain symptoms—including unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, and indigestion—are precursors of heart attacks. What's worse, in many of those cases—including Churchward's—their physicians were unaware because these symptoms are common in women but are considered "atypical" in most medical textbooks.

"Looking back, I can't believe how ignorant I was about issues relating to the health of the heart," says Churchward. "Women need to be aware of heart attack warning signs and take them seriously. We need to change the perception that this disease only affects older men, because heart attacks kill more women than all types of cancers combined."

Churchward, 64, has learned from her mistakes. When she began having breathing and vomiting problems a few months ago, she didn't hesitate to go see her doctor. Fortunately, she was able to take a pharmacological stress test (instead of the conventional walking or running on a treadmill), which indicated no heart problems.

"I'm lucky to be alive, and I realize it's up to me to take control of my health," she says.

Irene Redondo Churchward is a WomenHeart patient advocate. For information about WomenHeart, visit womenheart.org.