The Heart Attack Nobody Expected: SCAD Survivor Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe spontaneous coronary artery dissection, the sudden tear in a heart artery that strikes people who look healthy on paper. Writers describe how it began — pressure blamed on a cold burrito or a stomach bug, chest pain put down to work stress, grief or energy drinks, three visits before anyone ran a troponin — and then the angiogram that finally showed it. There is the hospital itself: beta blockers and blood thinners instead of the expected stent, the long wait for the artery to heal on its own, and the cases where a stent made things worse or bypass was needed with no cholesterol problem at all. Writers include men, a survivor in her seventies, women struck in late pregnancy or weeks after birth, an offshore worker evacuated from a rig, and two sisters with the same torn artery. Later chapters cover fibromuscular dysplasia found in the neck arteries, a second SCAD, cardiac rehab and the first treadmill walk, the fear that arrived afterwards, decisions about another baby or menopause, frozen embryos, medical bills, and partners afraid to hold the person they nearly lost.

Who it's for

For SCAD survivors in the first frightening months, partners and parents who sat by the bed, women weighing pregnancy after a dissection, and clinicians who want to hear how often it was nearly missed.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 285 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.