Her smartwatch alerted her to a heart issue the week of her 40th birthday

在她40岁生日的前两天，朱妮. 哈里斯当时正在兰开斯特的家中睡觉, Texas, when she woke up to her smartwatch buzzing incessantly on her wrist.

朱妮，专业上被称为朱妮·K. ——已经筋疲力尽地上床睡觉了. 过去的一年, 她一直是她哥哥的主要监护人, GJ, 谁在心脏病发作和中风后有脑损伤. Now, jolted awake in the middle of the night, she felt her heart racing. 她呼吸不稳定，也说不出话来. Her watch showed that her heart was beating over 180 times per minute.

JuNene's daughter, then-16-year-old Jendayi, called her grandmother.

“妈妈在哭，胸口疼，”詹达伊说.

“叫救护车，”朱妮的母亲黛布拉·艾薇(Debra Ivy)说.

医护人员给朱妮量了血压. 它也很高. Recognizing the signs of a type of irregular heartbeat called supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT, 他们给她药. 朱妮的血压恢复正常了.

几分钟后，她停止了呼吸. Paramedics restored her heartbeat as the ambulance barreled toward the hospital.

Doctors found a problem with the electrical system of her heart. To correct it, they said she would soon need a procedure called an ablation. It essentially destroys the small area of heart tissue causing the irregular heartbeat.

第二天，朱妮回家庆祝她的40岁生日. She left the hospital with medication to control her blood pressure and orders to rest, 几周后回来做消融手术.

她很快就开始胸痛. 她戴了一个星期的心脏监测器. 医生发现她有裂孔疝. It's when the upper part of the stomach pushes through the large muscle that divides the abdomen and chest. 他们给她药.

与此同时, with her brother's health history – which included blood clots that had traveled to his lungs – JuNene wanted more testing.

Bloodwork uncovered a genetic mutation that makes her more likely to develop blood clots. She now makes sure to get up and move around after sitting for long stretches.

To lessen her stress, her family hired home health workers to help care for GJ.

“我非常想帮助他活下去，”朱妮说. “我必须认识到自己的节奏, 给予更多的指示, let other people care for him with the same vigor that I did as a sister. 我必须放弃控制的欲望. 你不能从空杯子里倒酒."

To better fill her cup, she made time for meditation and nature walks, especially by the water.

Eight weeks after her ablation, JuNene climbed a 1,600-foot mountain in Georgia. 三个月后，她登上了墨西哥的金字塔. 去年，她去滑索了. 今年，她从飞机上跳了下去.

“我的心脏病并没有阻止我活下去. 它让我活了下来，”她说.

GJ于2020年去世. Since then, JuNene – now 44 – returned to school to get her PhD in natural medicine.

最近, 她感到胸口一阵颤动, a feeling she described as "almost like you're going down a rollercoaster and you get butterflies, 但在你心里."

她定期去看她的心脏病专家. 医生说可能需要再做一次消融.

当她感到不安时，朱妮试图保持冷静. 她专注于自己的呼吸. 她还在车的仪表盘上放了一个红色的小铃铛. 当她感到紧张或焦虑时，她就会按铃. 这是一个声音提醒呼吸和集中自己.

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

编者注:本文更新于2月10日. 18来纠正沙巴体育平台点击进入的沙巴足球体育平台轴. JuNene's ablation procedure happened after her 40th birthday, not before.