Jessica Sharon suspected something was wrong with her health until her doctor told her she had suffered a severe heart attack caused by a “widow.”

In early July 2022, Sharon, then 40, experienced chills and tingling that traveled from her head and neck to her back and arms, TODAY.com reported.

“It got really intense,” Sharon told TODAY.com about the chills. “Something was wrong.”

“I realized something was wrong,” she explained. “It didn’t feel like a normal chill, and it didn’t feel like a flu-like chill. It wasn’t. It was more intense.”

The mother of two then headed to the emergency room in search of some answers. However, even after undergoing tests, the results were not conclusive and the answer remained unanswered.

“I looked at the ER doctor and burst into tears,” she explained, according to TODAY.com. She said: “I was adamant that[something was]wrong and I was so scared that they would send me home.”

Emergency room doctors then told Sharon that she would not be discharged until they figured out what was wrong with her. She was not sent home, but her symptoms began to worsen. And then, she told TODAY.com, her health began to deteriorate, and she said, “Her discomfort was excruciating.”

Due to subsequent symptoms, doctors performed another electrocardiogram, which concluded that the 40-year-old woman had suffered a heart attack.

“I was young. I was healthy,” she said. “The biggest lesson I learned is that heart disease doesn’t actually discriminate.” He died at the age of 68, but like his daughter, he did not suffer from heart disease.)

She then underwent a cardiac catheterization, which revealed that Sharon had two small blockages in her left descending artery and an 85% blockage. Blockage of the left descending artery is often fatal if not treated immediately.

Sharon then underwent treatment by having a stent inserted into her artery, which relieved the blockage and returned blood flow to normal. However, doctors did not operate on other areas of the blockage at the time due to potential risks and concerns.

A month later, she began experiencing “some strange episodes” and believed it was heart-related. She returned to her cardiologist who performed further electrocardiograms and tests on her. This led to another cardiac catheterization, which revealed restenosis causing a 95% occlusion. According to the Cleveland Clinic, restenosis occurs after a patient’s artery becomes blocked after a stent is inserted.

Five months after her first symptoms, the mother of two underwent triple bypass surgery.

Since bypass surgery in 2020, the mother of two has had no new heart problems. She continues to take her necessary medications and schedules appointments with her cardiologist.

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Dr. Laura Mauri, Medtronic’s scientific, medical and regulatory director, said heart disease is the number one cause of death for women. “Not everyone, male or female, experiences the same symptoms,” Mauri told TODAY.com.

Dr. Mauri said anyone experiencing chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, neck, back or arm pain or excessive sweating should call 9-1-1.

She explained that while the symptoms can be “life-threatening,” EMS can provide early treatment that “really saves lives” before patients reach the emergency room.

“The good news is that in many cases, if a heart attack is caught early, treatment is very quick and can lead to a full recovery without a long hospital stay,” added Dr. Mauri. Ta.

Sharon is one of the advocates of Her Fate, a women’s heart recovery advocacy group that aims to raise awareness of heart disease in women.