The Million Women's Heart Project

I am named for my grandfather, Benjamin Goldman who passed away one year before I was born. Grandpa Benny was in his early 60's when he suffered a heart attack while riding the subway. Though he made it to the hospital in time and doctors had thought he would survive, my mom says that my grandfather was fearful of hospitals and endured another massive heart attack in the middle of the night and died without any of his family members by his side.

Nearly 35 years after my grandfather died, my own dad had a heart attack and underwent emergency surgery to place two stents in his heart. Thankfully, he survived, but not before my mom and I spent several hours in a hospital waiting room where we came face to face with a woman named Lenore Goldman - who coincidentally shared my own mom's maiden name. To say we were surprised was an understatement. We then learned that Lenore's husband Bernie was nearby undergoing heart surgery as well. Ironic? I think not. At that very moment, my mom and I truly believe that my grandpa Benny had sent us a sign that this time, everything was going to be okay.

As an adult, I have also experienced the sudden loss of my friend's young husbands to heart disease - both passed away of heart attacks, leaving behind their wives and young children. To think, that our friends could succumb to heart disease at the age of 39 was incomprehensible. From that moment on, I vowed to pay attention to my own heart health as well as my husband's.

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