Archives for 2014

Another guest post by my brother, Mike Thorson, about an experience so many survivors have — people asking us about symptoms, telling us their fears, wanting us to describe our symptoms differently than what they are feeling so that they can stop worrying and get back to their lives.  Our responses, though, are always the same: […]

I love reading end of the year lists. I like the moment of contemplation, however fleeting, they inspire. These are the top 10 most-read posts from 2014, and I especially like the story they tell about me and what it’s like to live my life in red in the third full year since surviving a […]

Last week my brother freaked me out by texting this photo with no context whatsoever. I thought he was back in the hospital. He explained it was a from a recent checkup in which he learned a new term (and much like “widowmaker,” this one has dark realism to it). After my pulse returned to […]

When I was a kid I loved the playground taunt “anything boys can do girls can do better” and I probably secretly still do. But here’s one thing women could stand to under-achieve on — getting, and dying from, heart disease. More women than men die each year from heart disease and stroke. In fact, […]

Join me on Twitter this Wednesday, November 12 at 12 p.m. central time for a Go Red for Women #HeartDayHumpDay chat with singer, actress, and Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy, Yahoo! anchor Bianna Golodryga and me (@jen_thorson)! We will talk about heart disease prevention and healthy living. If you are on Twitter, follow and join in!

Last June I spent three days in Los Angeles being dressed up and made up and interviewed and photographed as one of the Go Red for Women Real Women. I took all these photos and then kept them under wraps for months as the release of the “Class of 2015” was embargoed until late September. […]

Have I got a story to tell you. It’s one I couldn’t talk about for a while — embargoed they say in the PR business. But now it’s released and official and real: I am a 2015 Go Red for Women national spokesperson. One of the “Go Red for Women Real Women, Class of 2015.” […]

A few days after my first heart attack my brother came to visit me and went with me on my of my doctor-prescribed walks. We talked about running and genetics and why this happened and what it all means, and he said something super eerie, but nonetheless true: “Well, all I can do is be […]

I think this is my favorite week of the challenge — encouraging exercise and activity for everyone in the family. American kids ages 8-18 spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies. That puts them at all sorts of risk — high blood […]

This week’s EmpowerMEnt Challenge is a little bit harder that last week’s for the heart-loving foodie  — find ways to reduce the salt. The bad news: there is WAAAY too much salt in the American diet.  According to the Mayo Clinic, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 mg a day […]