A cause of death prompted forensic pathologist to discover she had the same heart condition

It was Michelle Aurelius' final year of fellowship in forensic pathology, and she was studying fiercely with a friend for her board certification test – the most difficult exam of her life.

When her heart started beating rapidly, Michelle figured there was more to it than stress. Instead of her normal pulse rate of 60 beats per minute, she clocked readings in the 80s. 然后120，然后150，然后180. 她开始感到头晕.

“我的心狂跳!她告诉她的学习伙伴. 他跑去拿冰块.

“需要我打911吗??她的朋友问.

“不，我会没事的，”米歇尔说.

她的心率在10分钟内恢复到正常范围, 尽管感觉好像持续了好几个小时. 当时35岁的米歇尔认为这是侥幸，就回家休息了.

第二天早上，米歇尔检查了一具40岁妇女的尸体. Records showed she'd died from complications of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, an electrical malfunction between the heart's chambers that can produce overly rapid heartbeats. That's when it dawned on Michelle: She might have the same condition.

She walked directly from her hospital office to the emergency room about a block away. 几个小时后，测试证实了这一点.

她的病情相对较轻. 她只需要改变一下生活方式就能控制住病情. For instance, she gave up caffeine and began prioritizing more sleep and less stress.

那是18年前的事了. With those adjustments and monitoring from a cardiac electrophysiologist, Michelle has decreased the severity and frequency of her rapid pulse episodes. They used to happen several times a week – sometimes more than once a day – and lasted up to 10 minutes. 现在，他们一个月出现一两次，每次一两分钟.

Still, when episodes hit, they're "like a hurricane," said her husband, Dunham Aurelius.

“它会进来把你逼平，”他说. "It's always scary – the thought of your wife going into cardiac arrest and she could die at any moment."

米歇尔和邓纳姆, 一个雕塑家, 模拟人生, 北卡罗莱纳, 和他们13岁的女儿, 礼来公司. Dunham often joins Michelle at doctor's appointments and comforts her when she's going through an episode. 他也不喝咖啡，吃低钠饮食.

“我为她感到骄傲，”邓纳姆说. “她是一个非常积极的人. 她也很有韧性."

Now 53, Michelle is the state of 北卡罗莱纳's chief medical examiner. She thinks often about the deceased woman who led her to her diagnosis and is filled with gratitude toward her.

“作为一名医生，我意识到了这一点, I knew what my diagnosis probably was but … like most relatively young professionals at the time, I didn't think in any shape or form that I was having any symptoms of heart disease,米歇尔说. "I didn't want to believe that I could have a disease or disorder that I needed to track. 作为一名医生，这真的让我很惭愧.

“那个改变人生的诊断真的让我醒了过来，”她说. "I'm not just a doctor; I'm a patient. 我得听自己身体的. 如果我不听从自己身体的声音, 其他女人是什么——母亲吗, 女儿和姐妹——心脏病发作时的行为?"

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.