Teacher, Jillian Coe, felt poorly one morning before school and collapsed. Luckily, one of the admin staff was able to save her life by performing CPR. However, following a second attack, Jillian is on a mission to keep women educated and aware of cardiovascular disease, and to help others survive. This is her story.
I was a healthy, fit 40 year old when I had a SCAD (Spontaneous coronary artery dissection) Heart Attack. With two primary school aged children, I ate a healthy diet, didn’t smoke, had low cholesterol and ran to keep fit. I never considered myself to be a candidate for a heart attack and had no risk factors.
During a usual day as a teacher at a Primary School in Hobart, one morning before class in November 2015, I wasn’t feeling well. I headed to the school’s office to see if I should head home. Moments later, I collapsed with a cardiac arrest. As a result, the amazing staff at the school called an ambulance and proceeded to conduct life-saving CPR. I was in hospital for seven days before returning home to continue my recovery journey. I returned to school in the new year, gradually building up my fitness and energy levels along the way to increase my time back at work.
Following this, I soon learnt my heart attack was caused by a sudden tear in my coronary artery which created a blockage and caused a heart attack.
I didn’t know it at the time, but SCAD is the number one cause of heart attacks in women under the age of 50, and tends to affect healthy, fit women with no risk factors for heart disease – I perfectly fitted the profile! Unfortunately, nearly two years later I experience another SCAD heart attack. Following tightness in my jaw and under my arms, I was able to recognise the early signs and an ambulance was called.
Following my first heart attack, I joined with other SCAD heart attack survivors to form a registered charity called SCAD Research Australia. Through this, we aim to educate people about SCAD, organise fundraising events to raise money medical research and support other survivors.
In recognition of my charity work, I have been announced as a Sunbites Good Fuel Fund local charity hero, receiving a $25k donation to SCAD Research Inc. from the Sunbites Good Fuel Fund. This money will make a real difference, funding information packs and supporting the amazing research into SCAD Heart Attacks at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
I’ve been really proud to be able to turn my heart attack experiences into something positive, working to change the outcome for future SCAD heart attack sufferers by encouraging people to seek urgent medical advice for symptoms and supporting life-saving medical research. – as told to Nikolina Ilic
This month, Jillian was chosen as one of the Sunbites Good Fuel Fund local charity heroes, seeing her charity SCAD Research Inc. Aus receive $25,000 from the Sunbites Good Fuel Fund. Following Jillian surviving two heart attacks, she has been part of research which has helped to uncover:
SCAD is a type of heart attack that affects healthy women under 50. It’s the #1 killer of pregnant women and new mums*
The burden of cardiovascular disease in women is being increasingly appreciated. Nevertheless, both clinicians and the general public are largely unaware that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide in women in all countries and that outcomes after a heart attack are worse for women than men*.
Of concern, is that not only the general public but also clinicians are unaware that CHD is the leading global cause of death in women*.
Women are less likely than men to receive preventative therapies, such as aspirin, statins and lifestyle changes*.
The Sunbites Good Fuel Fund is an initiative designed to fuel local charities and shine a light on the charity heroes behind them doing good in their communities. Sunbites is committed to supporting charities who are fuelling their community and will be donating $25,000 each month from April to November of this year to a local charity.
