Local mom and heart attack survivor becomes national representative for Heart Association
When you visit the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women web site there might be a familiar face in the picture of the 2015 Class of Real Women. Julia Allen of Charlotte is among those on the home page who suffered a heart attack and how she survived and have been selected to help educate women on how to prevent heart disease and stroke.
WBTV is happy to be the first to report that Julia has been chosen to represent the Real Women of the Go Red for Women campaign for the American Heart Association. Julia credits the 'Go Red' campaign with saving her life! Heart disease and stroke kill more women in this country every year than breast cancer and all other cancers combined.
It was winter of 2013 and Julia was working as head teller at Certus Bank on Sharon Road. The married mother of three boys felt very unusual. Julia thought she'd gotten the flu from a co-worker. She described her symptoms to me in a 'Keeping You Healthy' report in February of 2014, "I had profuse sweating. I just got hot like you wouldn't believe! I had really bad nausea and I couldn't throw up. I felt like I had really bad heartburn. It felt like somebody was twisting in my chest, like wringing out a rag. I felt this tightening of my jaw. And there was a pain down my arm and that's when I thought this isn't right!"
That's when Julia remembered the color RED! "There's something I remembered on a billboard or something somewhere about red so I just typed in red and women's symptoms of having a heart attack," Julia said. After a quick Google search, the Go Red for Women page popped up. "I sat here Maureen I looked at the screen. I had six of the seven symptoms. But I didn't believe it. I said no I am not having a heart attack," Allen thought.
Like most busy moms, thinking more about the lives of those around her, and taking little time for her own well-being. "I was always on the move, you go to work you go to track, football practice, lacrosse, golf…you name it my kids do it! Saturdays you're at track meet, I was always on the move and I thought I was eating healthy," Allen described.
Putting her sons' needs above hers seemed noble -- until it could have killed her. As she looked at the Go Red web site Julia said, "I can see myself in that picture! That's what helped me to realize I was having a heart attack!"
But even with that knowledge, old habits are hard to break. Julia actually stopped home before the hospital to leave a key and snack for her boys. It was five and a half hours later when she walked into the ER and collapsed. But she might never have gone if she hadn't remembered the Red...and seen the faces of women who'd survived heart attacks, and read these stories.
Julia Allen is a different woman today than she was when she suffered her heart attack. She's lost weight, exercises regularly and has developed recipes that are heart healthy.
When I asked her what she thinks about the National Wear Red Day? "It absolutely undeniably it saved my life," she told me.
Now as national spokesperson Julia will represent the Real Go Red for Women campaign at speaking engagements and in interviews in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. She will also have opportunities to share her story on national television shows, as well as other media outlets.
I spoke with Julia about this honor, "I am just so humbled by this. To think I can turn something so serious that happened to me, and use it as a learning tool to help save other women's lives is a real blessing." She said she feels this campaign saved her life so giving back only seems natural. "There are so many women out there who still haven't gotten the message about heart disease and stroke and I am grateful for the chance I'll have to educate more women and hopefully save lives," she said.
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