Kathe King

The emotional and physical sides of a woman's heart attack

Kathe King is a pastoral counselor in Zanesville, Ohio. She is also an evangelist for women's heart health, spreading the word on a topic that is literally near and dear to her heart. Her messages of education, hope, and healing revolve around a little-known but vitally important fact: heart attacks can be different for women.

Like most women, however, King was unaware of this when in May 2001, at the age of 54, she had the first of 2 heart attacks. Her symptoms—back and shoulder pain, fatigue, and a feeling of general unease—did not seem to be the classic signs of a heart attack, which is not unusual for women. She went to the hospital, where catheterization revealed a small blockage. Six months later, she had her second "minor" heart attack, and another small blockage was found in a different artery. King went through rehab, took her medication, watched her diet, and exercised faithfully.

As far as her doctors and friends were concerned, everything was fine. But it sure didn't feel that way for King. "I was looking for answers and support, and it's amazing how difficult it can be to get information from doctors," says King. "I saw something about the WomenHeart organization in Prevention magazine. That was the start of my emotional healing."

King is now a patient advocate and spokeswoman for WomenHeart, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the early detection, accurate diagnosis, and proper treatment of heart disease in women. Through her training to speak publicly on this topic for WomenHeart and at Her Heart Community events, King also discovered she was not alone.

"Women aren't like men. We do better when we bond together and help each other through the tough times," says King. "At that first meeting, I heard other women talk about their fears and anger and thought, 'that's how I feel.' It was a healing experience." Today, King serves as Director of Healing, Prayer, and Counseling Outreach Ministries at her local church. She also speaks to women's groups to educate them about heart disease and how to get support for the kind of scars that can't be detected on medical tests.

"Women need to be aware of heart attack warning signs and take them seriously, because heart attacks kill more women than all types of cancers combined," she says.

Kathe King is a WomenHeart patient advocate. For information about WomenHeart, visit womenheart.org.