A Change of Heart: misinformation

Saturday, October 8, 2011

"Disease-mongering"? LOLWUT?

A blogger on the Forbes.com site thinks that Go Red for Women's recent video, starring a 37-year-old Elizabeth Banks, is just "disease-mongering," and is a thinly-veiled attempt to get young women to go shop at Macy's since Macy's is one of the sponsors of the video. This ill-informed... person... also accuses the AHA of trying to cash in on some of the "pink money" that flows so thick and fast to breast cancer research.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2011/10/06/disease-mongering-du-jour-heart-disease-in-young-women-red-competing-with-pink/

Ring-ring, clue phone for you: heart disease kills SIX TIMES AS MANY WOMEN AS BREAST CANCER.

Also, the age group that has shown one of the biggest recent increases in rates of developing heart disease? 35-45 year old women.

Around 80% of heart disease is preventable, especially if you start early.

Forbes.com, you screwed up. You need to post some actual facts, an apology, and a retraction from this author.

Why am I doing this?

In March of 2009 I had a heart attack. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to the doctors; I don't have any risk factors--no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no clogged arteries, no family history; plus I'm a young (in cardiac terms) female who exercises. Definitely NOT the usual suspect for a heart attack.

But tell that to my body--I had one anyway. Turns out that I experienced a rare thing called a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. Don't google the term unless you're prepared to be depressed by mortality rates and statistics, and the fact that doctors really have no clue about what causes some people to have them.

The bright side is that my toast landed butter side up, and I'm still here. In 2009 I put together a one-shot fanzine called A Change of Heart; you can get a PDF copy of it from efanzines.com here. This blog is an extension of that fanzine and an effort to reach more people, both in and out of of the fannish science fiction community.

If you want to read my story from the beginning, I suggest starting with this link to my wonderful husband Paul's journal:

Laura Had A Heart Attack Monday Morning.

He kept up a pretty good running commentary of what was happening while I was still in the hospital, and it starts there. The "Next" and "Previous" links move to later and earlier entries, detailing our experiences.

In October, 2010, I competed in and finished the Chapel Hill Ramblin' Rose Triathlon. These are pictures Paul took of me riding my bike and running (he couldn't get into the pool).