On a sunny spring afternoon, Alma Gonzalez was alone at home folding laundry and talking on the phone with her husband, Jose.

She finished her chores and bent down to pick up the full basket. When she stood up, her head felt very heavy. She told Jose about this. She said it was “the worst headache I’ve ever had.” Maybe you’re just tired, he said, and invited her to lie down on her side.

So she did. When she turned on her back she had difficulty breathing. She could barely lift her head. Alma, then 42, knew this was no ordinary headache.

Alma continues on the phone, telling Jose that he needs to go to the hospital.

“Is your headache really bad?” he asked.

absolutely. She called 911 and told her operator that she had a bad headache and that she felt her head was as heavy as a brick.

The operator said he was going to send an ambulance. Concerned that Alma would lose consciousness or become incapacitated before help arrived, the operator instructed Alma to carefully go downstairs and unlock the front door.

She slowly descended the stairs. She also called her sister. The conversation is interrupted when Alma runs into the bathroom to vomit. Stunned, she still had the means to wash her mouth and grab her insurance card and wallet as they waited for her ambulance.

When the ambulance arrived, Alma told the paramedics that she wanted to walk to the ambulance herself. She wasn’t ready to accept that something serious was happening.

At the hospital, several relatives joined Alma in the waiting room. Her excruciating pain got worse and she let out her cries of pain to her sister, “It hurts, it hurts, it hurts”.

Alma was used to managing her pain on her own and refused to see a doctor or take medication unless necessary. But this level of pain was unbearable.

Her family urged her to seek medical attention sooner.

Finally, a nurse took Alma in a wheelchair and took her to her room.

The next thing Alma remembers was waking up in a hospital across town in Nevada.

“Do you know what day of the week it is today?” the nurse asked.

“Monday?”

It was Thursday.

Alma suffered a brain aneurysm that ruptured, causing a stroke and seizure. She had been transferred to a hospital better equipped to treat her symptoms.

Between that Monday and Thursday, doctors discovered an aneurysm behind Alma’s right eye. After surgeons treated the aneurysm, Alma was placed in a medically induced coma to help her brain recover. Her family was forbidden to touch or speak to her during her visits because her sounds and touch aroused her.

Alma’s brain bleeding finally subsided after about three weeks, and she was discharged from the hospital.

A few days later, she went to the ER again because she had severe chest pain and difficulty breathing. Her doctor told Alma that she had a urinary tract infection and sent her home.

Alma was confused. Her chest pain can’t cause a urinary tract infection, right?

The next day, she still didn’t feel well and went to the ER again. That’s when her doctors discovered three blood clots, known as pulmonary embolisms, in her lungs.

Alma spent the next week in the hospital. Her doctors inserted a filter into her lungs to thin her blood.

Two days after being released, she experienced excruciating pain again. Her doctors discovered a fourth blood clot in her lung. This time I was able to cure it with medicine.

A few months later, Alma returned to the hospital to have the filter removed. That’s when the radiologist noticed something and referred her to another specialist. It turns out that Alma has a cyst in her kidney.

Once doctors had that information, they believed polycystic kidney disease was at the root of everything that happened, from brain aneurysms to pulmonary embolisms.

On April 9, marking six years since her ordeal began, Alma said, “I will never be able to maintain my health again.” She commemorates it every year by watching footage of herself walking to her ambulance, which was caught on her security camera. The footage reminds us of how strong she is and how determined she is.

Stories from the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers, and supporters.