I want to share about heart health—when you’re young, it’s not something you hear a lot about.
Here’s my story. Many years ago, my dad had to have a triple bypass. My parents were going through a divorce, so I was very involved with his care. Watching him go through that was incredibly tough, although after surgery. I remember asking how he was feeling and his response: “I’m never going to golf again.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because I couldn’t before!” He always had a sense of humor. The doctors never talked to my dad about heart disease running in the family. Thank God, my dad is 88 now—I’m so blessed to still have him. Just five years ago, I lost my beautiful mother to heart disease. She had just been to the heart doctor and did everything that she thought she needed to do, but in reality, there was so much more that she wasn’t told.
After she passed, I wanted to help others. I reached out to the American Heart Association—what an amazing organization! I learned that heart disease is the No. 1 killer. Most women are taking care of everyone else and they barely make time for themselves. May I remind you there are lots of ways to take care of our hearts, for instance, avoid eating lots of red meat, sugar and butter. When a guest on my radio show, cardiologist Dr. Shah advised me to get checked, I added it to my to-do list—thank God I did!
They found that I had a blockage, and that day, I changed my diet and began exercising daily. Now that I have the knowledge, I’m going to use it. I am forever grateful that I have time to correct and work on my heart health, because I love my life. Please make time to check out your heart. It’s so important!