Help divya raise money

Hi Everyone,

A few months ago, I felt sudden pain in my arm and chest.  I put the pain aside and tried to go about my day planning for the evening with kids and work meetings at night. The pain wasn't going away. I was still reluctant to get it checked out and was brushing the pain aside like so many of us women do. Thanks to my support system, I went to the urgent care close by. Three hours later I was shuttled by ambulance to a hospital because I was having a heart attack.  I am 38 years old and those who know me know that I am active and healthy - so this was  a shock. The cardiologist told me that one of my heart arteries tore and got 100% blocked causing my heart attack. This, I learned then, is called Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) - a rare condition that occurs primarily in women under 50. Unlike the traditional heart disease, SCAD is seen in healthy people who have no typical risk factors for heart attack.

To say, my life has changed after that would be an understatement. Not much is known about SCAD and research has a long way to go. I am learning to live with the unknowns and uncertainty of SCAD but I also have learnt gratitude- tons of gratitude for being here now with family and friends. I appreciate every day as the blessing that it is. I am going to walk the 5K SCADaddle on Sep 9th to raise awareness about a few things close to my heart (so apt ;) ):

1) Prioritizing self-care : On the day that my SCAD happened, I almost din't get the medical help that I needed because I put my kids, my work  and everything else first and thought going to the ER for my pain was an inconvenience that I couldn't afford. Thankfully I have people in my life who knew better and made me get help.

2) Recognizing the symptoms of a heart attack: I had no idea that sudden arm pain is a symptom of a heart attack. (Frankly din't expect one at 38 years old). Thank god for Google! However I hope awareness will help more people recognize this sooner rather than wait for 8hours like I did. 

3) SCAD research: As you can imagine, I have a million questions ranging from why this happened to where do I go from here. And Science doesn't have the answers for me yet. But, someday I hope survivors like me will have more certainty and less questions!