Heart attack survivors share stories

MOSES LAKE — The four heart attack survivors who recounted their stories were in different places, ages and circumstances when they got sick. But they all had one thing in common.

“I felt different than I ever felt before,” said Rocky Terry, who survived a heart attack at 54 years of age. “This was different. It just felt different.” Terry, Jill Simon, John Peterson and Renee Ballinger told their stories at the “Unexpected Faces of a Heart Attack” program, sponsored by the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation.

The foundation has been sponsoring community programs for a few years, but Thursday’s was the first focused on heart disease. The program also included a panel of heart health experts.

All four survivors said the heart attack they experienced definitely was unexpected. Simon, a physician, was 44 and was at work. Peterson, 64 at the time, had just finished exercising. Ballinger was 50 and was on a weekend getaway. Terry was getting ready to go on a trip the next day.

“My God, I’m 50 years old and I’m having a heart attack,” Ballinger recalled thinking. Simon described a “searing, burning pain in my chest,” and “by far the worst pain I ever experienced.” But she still saw one more patient before going to the emergency room, she said.

Ballinger described the pain as worse than childbirth.

“For me it was the opposite,” Terry said. His point, he said, was that in his case the pain wasn’t as bad as he would’ve expected.

There are risk factors for heart disease, including age, weight, exercise and genetics. Ballinger was training for a half-marathon and an unlikely candidate for a heart attack. “My risk factor was genetics,” she said.

Simon said she might have worked less in the period leading up to her heart attack, if she changed anything. Peterson said he might have changed his diet, eaten a little better. “And I do eat better – now.”

Terry said he had a very stressful job, so after the heart attack he retired. He encouraged people to exercise – there are risk factors a person can’t control, but they can control their exercise, he said. “I continue to eat well,” but in moderation, he said, and made other adjustments in his life.

Ballinger’s heart attack came at about the same time her husband was battling cancer. One of the lessons she took away from those experiences, she said, is to take time to do the things she and her husband want to do. She urged people to enjoy every moment, because the next moment isn’t guaranteed.

“Just get out and do stuff,” Terry said. “I just try to have fun. Life is short.”

Simon said she learned she had an entire network of people willing to help and support her, some she didn’t even know about. Peterson said the medical emergency opened his eyes to the people around him, and their support.

“Family, friends and faith,” Simon said. “That’s what matters.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.