I Had a Heart
Attack at 35.
This is My Story.
A rare, spontaneous heart condition
called SCAD almost cost me my life.
MORGAN DRUTCHAS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Health
I
t was an ordinary
Wednesday at my new job
as a 35-year-old human
resources manager when I
began to have chest pain unlike
anything I’
d ever experienced.
The pain was searing; I went
from sweating hot to cold
and clammy. My colleague,
whom I had known only for a
couple days, looked at me with
concern. “We are calling 9-1-1.”
Everything in me wanted to
fight this. I was a petite, healthy
and fit young woman with no
cardiac risks, perfect cholesterol
and blood pressure, and no
family history of heart attacks. I
exercised regularly, maintained
a healthy weight, never did
drugs or smoked cigarettes, had
just spent a week climbing the
Mayan ruins in Mexico without
issue and hadn’
t even been on
oral contraceptives in years.
I had no idea what this was,
but I was as concerned about
cardiac issues as I was about
an alien invasion. And yet even
as I thought my colleague was
overreacting, I was experiencing
the oddest pain of my life.
The shocking and terrifying
events that occurred in the days
following have changed my life.
I suffered two heart attacks only
four days apart; the second was
so severe and life-threatening
that I spent three weeks in
the cardiac intensive care unit
on the brink of death, with
stents, a cardiac pump and IV
medications to help my heart
contract.
SPONTANEOUS CORONARY
ARTERY DISSECTION
So, what happened? I suffered
from a Spontaneous Coronary
Artery Dissection (SCAD),
which occurs when the inner
lining of the heart’
s coronary
arteries tears, causing blood to
pool and halting blood flow and
oxygen to critical heart muscle,
leading to a heart attack.
This is not the type of heart
attack we commonly think of,
the one caused by a buildup
of cholesterol plaque. Because
I’
m not in the demographic
commonly considered at risk
for heart disease (namely older
males, those with diabetes,
those who smoke, etc.), the
thought I might be experiencing
a heart attack surprised even
the colleague who witnessed it.
I’
ve learned that SCAD
is more common than we
think: The American Heart
Association says it is the
leading cause of heart attacks
for women between the ages of
35 and 50. An overwhelming
number of all SCAD cases
occur spontaneously in young
women, with no known cause.
Unfortunately, there’
s no way to
test who’
s at risk or know when
it’
s happening until you have a
heart attack. That’
s why it’
s so
important to spread awareness
about this dangerous condition.
SCAD remains largely
undiscussed in the broader
community. The first medical
study wasn’
t completed until
2018, even though the medical
community has known of the
condition since 1931. The
harmful bias that only older
males have heart attacks still
exists, both within healthcare
and the population at large.
Even when I went into the
second ER with severe chest
pain, my sister, a physician who
happened to be in town that
weekend, advocated for me to
42 | MARCH 26 • 2020
As a healthy young woman, Morgan
Drutchas of Bloomfield Hills enjoyed
travel and the outdoors.
Climbing Mayan ruins in Mexico
COURTESY OF MORGAN DRUTCHAS
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