• Tightness in the chest
• Nausea
• Sweating

• Shortness of breath, fatigue
• Pain or discomfort extending perhaps to the arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach

Despite all that she knew, McGregor was convinced heart disease couldn’t happen to her. But it did.

A little more than a year ago, McGregor took her 8-month-old grandson to church and felt an unusual pain in her chest as she carried him up the steps. The pain went away as soon as she sat down to rest but continued to plague her throughout the day.

“I began to wonder if it could be my heart,” said McGregor, “but like many women, I made excuses and attributed it to everyday aches and pains and fatigue.”

Heart disease survivor Annie McGregor enjoys time with her grandsons Wade (right) and JB.

When McGregor—an R.N. and coordinator of Baptist’s Cardiology department—went to work the next day, the pain continued. She asked her staff to schedule an EKG and stress test. The results confirmed what McGregor tried to deny: Something was wrong with her heart.

An immediate heart catheterization revealed a 90 percent blockage in an artery leading to McGregor’s heart. She had balloon angioplasty, where a drug-coated stent was inserted to keep the artery open.

J. Kenneth Ford, M.D., cardiologist at Western Baptist Hospital, said McGregor’s experience is typical of many women.

“Sometimes a woman may experience arm pain, neck pain, light-headedness or even just general fatigue,” said Ford. “The symptoms aren’t always as evident as they may be with men, but they can be just as deadly.”

In fact, the American Heart Association says that cardiovascular disease claims more women’s lives than the next five causes of death combined—about 500,000 women a year.

“I’m thankful that I did not wait longer,” said McGregor. “The old saying ‘practice what you preach’ really hit home. Now more than ever, I realize how precious the gift of a healthy heart

Today, McGregor is back to doing what she loves best—working with heart patients and baby-sitting her grandchildren.