35-year-old Yonkers woman shares heart attack survival story
Last November, Danielle Forbes started having chest pains when she was watching television. At first, she thought it was just heartburn and that the pain would go way. However, hours later, it didn't, and the pain actually got worse.
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Danielle Forbes is sharing her story of survival from an unexpected heart attack at the age of 35 years old.
The Yonkers woman thought she was a pretty healthy and active person. She works as a researcher and said she had no history of heart disease.
Last November, she started having chest pains when she was watching television. At first, she thought it was just heartburn and that the pain would go way. However, hours later, it didn't, and the pain actually got worse.
This is when Forbes said she decided to take a train into Manhattan and get the pain checked out at a hospital.
There, she found out that she was in heart failure and was suffering from what doctors call a MINOCA heart attack.
Forbes said her heart attack was caused by an undetected heart condition that she had called Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.
According to her doctors, the type of heart attack that she had differs from a standard heart attack.
They explained to her that MINOCA heart attacks are common in young women and African American and Hispanic patients.
Forbes said the outcome could have been catastrophic and possibly fatal if she didn't act when she did.
She offered up this advice to help others and potentially save a life.
"Understand that if you're having any type of chest pain, you should go to the ER cause it's probably something related to your heart," Forbes said. "Don't just ignore it, or just don't think that 'Oh yeah the pain went away', actually go and get it checked out."
