90 Comments
User's avatar
Heather B's avatar

Thanks for this. My mother had a heart attack at 48 in 1997. At her cardiac rehab class, they went around the room and said what their symptoms had been. None were the same, and only a few people had had the classic symptoms. That was when we learned that women have different symptoms than men ... even though my uncle is a cardiologist who had had his own heart attack three years earlier.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

And eleven years after that, I still hadn't heard that information. SMDH.

Expand full comment
Heather B's avatar

Another note: if you think you or a woman you love is having a heart attack, call 911. Too often, women minimize their own symptoms or drive themselves to the hospital when they would have called an ambulance for their husbands, and they die because they didn’t get care as quickly as they would have if they’d called the squad.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

100%. I should have said this in my piece. Thank you for posting it here.

Expand full comment
Doris B's avatar

Thank you for sharing your story. First time I’ve heard of a sore back. A good reminder to take care of ourselves & pay attention to signs we may off handedly ignore.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thank you for reading. And it's can be a fine line between ignoring warning signs and overreacting, which is certainly something I've struggled with in the past.

Expand full comment
Doris B's avatar

That’s a very good point.

Expand full comment
Heather P-K's avatar

I'm sorry you have such heavy memories attached to this day. But thank you for spreading awareness of women's heart attack symptoms - I will keep them in mind for my own mom.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Hearing that you'll be watching your mom even more closely makes those memories less heavy.

Expand full comment
Lisa Naas's avatar

Thank you so much for this!

Expand full comment
BrianB's avatar

This is so much like my own mother's death. She died in 2002 of a massive heart attack caused by a lifetime of smoking and a horrible diet. There were none of the classic signs we associate with a heart attack. For days she had complained of indigestion and presumed it was food poisoning. Two different hospitals sent her home with antibiotics and instructions to stay hydrated. It wasn't until her 3rd trip to the ER that she complained of chest pain right before she passed out. She never regained consciousness and like you, I had to make the decision to unplug the life support and let her go. She was 52. The addiction was so strong that it controlled her life physically and financially and it ended it.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

I'm so sorry you had something similar happen. As for cigarettes, knowing what I do now about how addictive tobacco companies make their product at least made me much less angry at my mom for not being able to quit. I honestly do not know how people who run cigarette companies live with themselves.

Expand full comment
Amy Makechnie's avatar

Thank you <3

Expand full comment
Amanda Kortokrax's avatar

Thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment
Robyn D's avatar

So hard when we lose a parent just when we're reconciling. It was similar with my mom. We were finally beginning to have the friendship I think we both always wanted. I'm trying to do better with my adult children and feel like we have good relationships.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Yeah, one ends up vacillating between being grateful for the time we had and angry over what we didn't get to have.

Expand full comment
Sierra Tango's avatar

Beautiful.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thank you...

Expand full comment
Jess Ellen's avatar

Thank you for sharing your story, Michael. I had no idea. Your gift here, to so many, is very appreciated 🙏🏼

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thank you for reading.

Expand full comment
Matt Malone's avatar

The impact this piece might have... Very thoughtful, Michael.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thanks, Matt...

Expand full comment
Kelton Wright's avatar

Thank you for this. 💛💛💛

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thank you for reading it...

Expand full comment
Sabrina Y. Smith's avatar

Thanks so much for opening up about this and turning your loss into women’s health gain - how beautiful! 🤍

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

I hope my mom would happy about it. Though she would hate my sharing her pictures! Thanks for taking the time to read.

Expand full comment
G. Andrew Acton IV's avatar

Tragic. Thank goodness you guys had that last visit.

Expand full comment
Charlie Brown's avatar

This is a super emotional read, thank you for sharing Michael.

There's a very good book about how huge the data gap is between men and women called Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez . I learned in that about how women have different, never talked about symptoms for heart attacks and myriad other health conditions. It's both shocking and unsurprising at the same time to be honest.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Shocking and unsurprising -- exactly. There was a bit of worry when I wrote this that people might say, "Um, everyone knows this now, Michael." Frankly, I wish that had been the case.

Expand full comment
Samantha Childress's avatar

This was beautifully written, Michael. I am that you had that year of visits and phone calls with your mom. Thank you so much for sharing what could be life-saving information--the medical establishment's disregard for women still manages to shock me, even after a lifetime of dealing with it--and finding a way to draw something of value out of a horrible loss.

Expand full comment
Michael Jensen's avatar

Thanks for the kind words. And for reading it. Both are very very much appreciated.

Expand full comment