The connection between maternal health and heart disease is intensely personal to me. More than 22 years ago, my first son was born nine weeks early and extremely small (less than two pounds) due to a rare complication called HELLP syndrome (similar to an extreme form of pre-eclampsia). And then, when he was 10, I had my first heart attack.
After many years of appointments, specialists, treatment, and my own research, I uncovered the link between high blood pressure in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and HELLP) and heart attacks later in life. I uncovered it *myself* because not one obstetrician, gynecologist, or cardiologist brought it up, despite knowing my health history. Perhaps they didn’t know. Neither explanation is acceptable. This is part of why I am so fiercely urgent about raising awareness of women’s risk of heart disease and equity in research, training, and medical care.
I am glad to see, all these years later, that Go Red for Women has begun focusing on the connection between maternal health and heart disease risk and providing this information.
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