Heart attack survivor raising awareness for heart health, emergency condition known as ‘SCAD’

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) -February 2 is National Wear Red Day. Many people wear red to show their support for the awareness of heart disease.

Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the U.S. for 100 years.

At the age of 39, Michele Lively never imagined this would be a concern for her.

“I started doing a lot of walking and lost a few pounds and I was like, I want to get stronger, I want to actually get fit so I joined a workout group. I joined Camp Gladiator,” Lively said. “At my third workout, I had a heart attack.”

But in the moment, Lively didn’t know. She assumed she was just having a hard time and went about her life.

“Every time I was walking my dog, chest pain. Every time I was walking across the grocery store, chest pain,” she said.

Four weeks later, she finally made it to the doctor.

“The heart is obviously a very important organ and there can be a problem and we don’t know it, so make sure you are seeing your primary care provider routinely, annually, to look for any trouble that might lead to heart failure later in life is so important,” said Danielle Smith, a nurse practitioner in cardiology at Baylor Scott & White.

Lively learned she had an emergency condition called Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection or SCAD which occurs when a tear forms in the wall of a heart artery and can lead to a heart attack.

“It’s just so unfair that you think you are doing everything right and you still have a heart attack,” Lively said.

Researchers aren’t sure what causes SCAD, but patients are often women who are otherwise healthy, with few or no risk factors for heart disease.

Lively continues to live with the effects of SCAD, and she is working to raise awareness and funds for research.

She hopes doctors can find more answers for survivors like herself.

She is hosting a 5K in College Station called the Texas SCADaddle.

There are similar events in many parts of the nation, but this is the first of its kind in the state.

The Texas SCADaddle is on Saturday, April 20 at Wolf Pen Creek Park. You can register, donate or sign up to volunteer online.