Heart disease can affect anyone with a heart. Meet Dr. Hope Griffin, one of St. Agnes HealthCare’s physicians, and a heart disease survivor.

"I felt the pain within five minutes after I started walking on my new treadmill. I did not want to believe it could be cardiac in origin, I was only 41 years old. It was frightening to believe that the crushing pain in the middle of my chest, which radiated down my left arm and then to my left ear, could be due to a problem with my heart. I called one of my colleagues, an emergency room physician, who said it sounds like angina. My first stress thallium test was performed a few days later in October 1993. After the results came back, the cardiologist reassured me that I had a very healthy heart and had performed better on the test than most people my age. I decided I must be “out of shape” and needed to exercise more.

I began exercising with a longer warm up period and at a slower pace, eventually I was able to set exercise goals and successfully complete them. However, years later, I began experiencing the symptoms while performing ordinary activities, such as walking or pulling my suitcase in the airport. Doctors could not understand why I was having these symptoms after normal cardiac testing.

On New Years Eve of 2001, I had to stop dancing. A few weeks later, the pain returned while shoveling snow. Again, I visited a cardiologist and soon afterwards was subjected to another stress thallium test. He pointed out that I had no significant cardiac risk factors except for a mildly elevated cholesterol level of 214 and recommended dietary modifications.

By December 2002, I was having pain several times per day with little activity. I was scheduled for another stress thallium test in January 2003. On the December 16 I stopped to buy Christmas cards on my way to work. This time, the pain was associated with extreme fatigue. When I arrived at work my office manager called the cardiologist’s office. When he called back, I was no longer having any symptoms so I was embarrassed to let him know of my symptoms earlier that morning. I simply asked him if I could have my testing performed before January. He immediately offered to perform the test the following day.

The first two minutes of the test went well, but the cardiologist soon inquired if I was feeling pain. I was immediately admitted to the Coronary Care Unit while plans were made to transfer me to a cardiac hospital. Doctors awakened me in the cath lab and advised of the immediate need for open-heart surgery because of an obstruction in the left main coronary artery of my heart. This artery supplies blood to 2/3 of the heart.

A double bypass operation was performed successfully, more than nine years after my first stress thallium test. After months of recuperation, I was back to delivering babies and performing surgeries. Now I am able to exercise without debilitating pain. I am recovering from the significant depression that followed and still struggle with some musculoskeletal chest pains resulting from the incision in my breastbone.

I am honored to serve on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Council of the American Heart Association. I incorporate education and screening for cardiovascular disease in my day-to-day encounters with my gynecologic patients. The Red Dress Sunday program has been a marvelous way to reach out to women and other minorities who are disproportionately affected by heart disease and stroke. We must begin with educating women who have the greatest capacity to change the dietary and lifestyle habits of the American family. Heart disease can truly affect anyone who has a heart."