How This Army Vet Is Winning Her Battle with Heart Disease
Written by Cathy Cassata on February 22, 2021 Fact checked by Maria Gifford
While heart disease is the number one killer of women, it’s preventable about 80percent of the time. American Heart Association Go Red for Women
Combat veteran Dani Aylsworth shares her compelling story about overcoming PTSD, alcohol misuse, and heart failure to win back her health one battle at a time.
At 23 years old, Dani Aylsworth was a new mom and the only woman in her special forces unit of the U.S. Army. Deployed to Afghanistan, she found herself trying to fit in with her male counterparts.
Photo Courtesy of the American Heart Association
Heart health was never something Dani Aylsworth thought much about. The 33-year-old military veteran always figured heart problems happened to people who were much older.
But in 2017, all that changed. She came down with a case of viral pneumonia, which turned into sepsis. To help fight the potentially deadly infection, doctors placed Aylsworth into a medically induced coma. When she woke up 12 days later, she couldn’t speak or walk. Doctors told her the infection had weakened her heart and she was suffering from heart failure.
About a week and a half later, Aylsworth was able to go home to her then 8-year-old daughter, Zoe. Doctors prescribed medication, and she wore an external defibrillator vest, which detects life-threatening heart rhythms and sends an electric jolt to normalize them.
PatientPoint, American Heart Association Bring 2021 Go Red for Women Real Women to the Point of Care yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.