Local Heart Attack Survivor Wins National Essay Contest, Trip to New York

Written by Amanda Coers – The number 17 has a unique significance to longtime Early resident Debbie Huebner. On August 17, 2017, she needed 17 shocks from a defibrillator to get her heart pumping after a potentially lethal heart attack.

“I’ve had quiet an adventure,” she said as she shared her story. “17 was my number that day.”

 

 

Debbie went to work that day, as she had for the past eight years, in the pharmacy at Brownwood Regional Medical Center. It was just another summer day, and Debbie felt fine.

“My husband dropped me off at the back steps, and I had a little bit of heartburn,” she said. The heartburn spread throughout her body and Debbie remembered feeling warm all over. She tried to cool off, but eventually found herself laying on the floor. Her chest began to tighten.

A temporary pharmacist filling in for the day grabbed a wheelchair and rushed Debbie to the Emergency Room. As it turns out, there was no time to spare.

“Five minutes later would have been too late,” Debbie said. “I started coding as soon as I got to the ER and they had to shock me 17 times. I glad they didn’t give up.”

Once her heart was pumping, Debbie was taken to the catheter lab where cardiologist Dr. Sanjeev Ravipudi got to work, quickly eliminating the blockage.

“It felt like a dream,” she remembered. “I couldn’t believe it was real.”

But it was all too real. Debbie had what is often called “the widow maker,” with 100% blockage in the large left main artery.

“I had the mother of all heart attacks.”

While it might seem unusual to have such a serious heart attack with absolutely no warning, 64% of women have no symptoms before their first heart attack.

Debbie’s only clue was her family history. Her dad died from a massive heart attack when he was just 55 years old, the same age Debbie was when she fell to the floor that fateful day in August. Her grandfather died in his 40’s from a heart attack.

“I should have got checked ten years ago,” she says now. Debbie strongly feels if she had been more proactive with her health, she might not have had the heart attack.

 

 

Though she wishes it could have been avoided, Debbie is extremely grateful for surviving thanks to the quick actions of her friends and coworkers at the hospital. She penned an essay which was published on Thanksgiving on BrownwoodNews.com.

The next month, Debbie saw an ad for an essay contest with celebrity fitness guru Bob Harper (of the Biggest Loser) and AstraZeneca, called “Survivors Have Heart.”

Harper had suffered an unexpected and near-fatal heart attack in February 2016. The contest encouraged his fellow heart attack survivors to submit their stories for an opportunity to meet him in New York.

“I just sat there in my kitchen and typed it up on my phone and sent it off and didn’t think twice,” Debbie said. A month later, she was contacted to do a video interview. A week after the video interview she was selected as one of the five finalists.

Debbie and her husband traveled to New York February 25th where they met the four other finalists and enjoyed dinner together, sharing their individual stories of life after a heart attack. The next day they met with Bob Harper.

 

“We had a good talk with him, we sat on couches in a circle and talked about our different experiences and he told us about his,” she said. “He asked if we’ve made changes, and I told him I’m trying to do better with my diet and get out and walk every day. When I don’t exercise or eat like I need to, I almost feel like I’m being ungrateful for the second chance I’ve been given.”

A professional chef offered healthy eating tips and recipes with a lesson in the kitchen, and each finalist received a signed copy of Harper’s new book, “The Super Carb Diet: Shed Pounds, Build Strength, Eat Real Food.”

The next morning the survivors participated in a photo shoot with Bob Harper.

“I felt like a movie star, it was cool, they treated us so well,” Debbie said. The remainder of their trip was spent sight-seeing, walking around Times Square, and relaxing at their hotel.

Back home, Debbie wants to encourage her community, especially women, to be aware of changes in their health.

“The day I had the heart attack, I had heartburn. I never had heartburn,” she explained.

To keep her heart healthy, Debbie enjoys walking in the local parks for 30 to 40 minutes a day, and tries to eat a healthy diet.

“I knew it was in my family, but I never followed through with a cardiac checkup because I never had symptoms or never felt bad,” Debbie said. “I am hopeful my story will make people consider the consequences. So, I am asking for you all to get those health check-ups that are so important. Please, don’t wait until it’s a crisis situation. I was one of the lucky ones.”