First came the headaches – worse than migraines – then the shortness of breath and having to lay down after crossing the room.

Five months after my symptoms began, I was diagnosed with a 99% blockage in my LAD and 99% blockage in an artery branch off that.

I was stented and, in doing so, they jailed an artery. I was given Metoprolol and I got worse.

I underwent another Angiogram, and all was fine, so they changed my medication and I began to use my Nitro more.

My first episode caught me completely off guard on a Sunday morning in 2014. I was an active, healthy 35-year-old mother of 3. It felt like what I imagined having a heart attack would feel like. After a minute or two it stopped as suddenly as it had started and I got out of bed to start my day, I had experienced palpitations before and brushed it off as a once off.

I had about 8 more episodes before lunch time and made a deal with myself that if it continued, I would call an ambulance. I was a busy mum and didn’t want to be ‘dramatic’! It resolved by 2 p.m.

I am a 62-year-old retired physician. My story began at age 47.

I was a very busy practicing OB/Gyn physician who was otherwise healthy.

I was on call at the hospital, and it was turning out to be one of the busiest days I had ever experienced as a physician. I was in a medical group that took call for 24 hours straight, most of the time working the entire 24 hours.

Halfway through that 24-hour call, I was in the operating room doing a C/Section on a patient. Halfway through the surgery I began to feel crushing chest pain.