Special Ladies in Red 2011

Written by Monique Stensrud, Joseph Brook

Brenda & Brayden Eidenshink

Brenda and Scott Eidenshink were newlyweds expecting their first child together in early December 2007.

Brayden arrived just three days shy of full term but his journey started eight days after he was born. He had stopped eating and was turning blue. An echocardiogram showed that the main artery leaving his heart, the aorta, was not opening fully, restricting the blood flow—a condition called aortic valve stenosis.

He underwent open-heart surgery in Los Angeles when he was just 12 days old. The surgery went smoothly and Brayden was out of the hospital within 10 days.

At his one-year checkup, Brenda and Scott learned that Brayden would need another open-heart surgery to replace his aortic valve, called “The Ross Procedure.”

The surgery was postponed several times but finally took place on January 28, 2010.

This procedure was very difficult on Brayden and his family.

“We were terrified,” Brenda recalled. “I had a hiding spot where I would go [to be alone].”

Brayden was placed on life-support when he came out of surgery. They thought they had lost him several times to a number of infections and complications in the days that followed.

“Brayden’s story went all over the world, there were prayer chains everywhere. We were lucky to have so much support,” Brenda said.

“When we did bring Cassidy [Brayden’s older sister] in, she was calm. I told her not say goodbye to her brother...to tell him to keep fighting.”

That is just what he did. He spent 31 days in the intensive care unit and 51 in the hospital.

He went several minutes without oxygen flow to his brain and his doctors thought it would be unlikely for him to ever be able to walk, but Brayden shocked them all by walking before he left the hospital.

Today, Brayden is an active 3-year-old and though he still has a long road ahead of him, with more surgeries needed to repair his heart, he gets stronger with every day that passes.

“He tells us what he can’t do,” Brenda said, proudly. “And while he might not be able to play aggressive sports...there are so many things he can do.”

He takes an active role in doling up his medications six times a day.

“He does better when he gets to draw it up. He likes to be involved with his medicine,” Brenda added.

“We just try to make sure he knows [his scars are] part of him.

“My son’s life was saved...he is alive. I have to be thankful,” she said.

Brenda has made a commitment to giving back and sharing her family’s story. That is how she found the American Heart Association.

Brenda participated in the 2010 Bakersfield Start! Heart Walk, raising funds for research and education programs to help the Heart Association build lives free of cardiovascular diseases.

Ramona Rodriguez

“There were times when I thought it was all a dream,” Ramona Rodriguez recalled of her open-heart surgery.

The 49-year-old mother of four would look around the recovery room in disbelief.

“The people in the beds around me having this procedure done to them were 70 years old,” she said.

Ramona is living proof that heart disease can affect anyone—at any age.

She has always lived an active life. That is, until her body slowed her down.

“If I walked ten feet, I would become out of breath,” she added. “Housework would take me all day because if I did something for five minutes, I would have to rest for ten.”

This went on for over a year. Ramona attributed her increased fatigue to growing older and being overweight.

She finally decided to see a cardiologist in July 2010. An angiogram showed that she had two completely blocked arteries and needed open-heart surgery.

“My heart sank when I heard those words,” she explained.

She had one of the leading risk factors for heart disease: family history.

“Both my older and younger brothers had heart attacks in their late 30s. My father died of a heart attack and my mother has high blood pressure and diabetes,” she said.

Ramona had open-heart surgery on September 27, 2010. The surgery went well and she was out of the hospital by the end of the week.

She has been in cardiac rehabilitation since she was released, slowly trying to gain back her strength and get back on her motorcycle.

“Rehab is not going as fast as I would like it to go,” she added. “I am increasing a little at a time but I do feel a difference now. I am no longer out of breath.”

Her first instinct was to cover her scars. She e-mailed her daughters after her surgery and told them she needed to go shopping for clothes to hide her scars.

“My daughters told me that I should be proud of my scars. I am living because of them; they are my battle wounds...so I didn’t go out and buy turtlenecks,” she said, chuckling.

She has learned to be proud of her journey and to use it to raise awareness—starting with her family. Ramona, her husband, and her four kids have started to eat heart-healthy since her surgery. They eat more lean meats, like chicken and try to get fish in as often as they can. And they got involved in the Go Red for Women campaign!

“I wish women could get past the idea that this can’t happen to them...it can and it does every day.”

Pam Giumarra & Presley Houchin

Pam Giumarra knows all too well the effects of heart disease. She’s learned them as a daughter, a grandmother, and a patient. She is immensely grateful that she and her granddaughter, Presley Houchin, are alive today.

Pam’s mother passed away as a result of a heart complication at the age of 41, leaving behind a husband, two sons, and Pam.

When Pam’s 41st birthday came around, Pam recalled reflecting on what it meant to live past the age at which her mother had passed.

“We were celebrating with some of my high school girlfriends and their husbands,” explained Pam. “To survive past my mother’s age was very significant.”

Twenty years later, just two days after celebrating her daughter’s wedding, she celebrated the birth of her second grandchild. Between the preparation for the wedding and the excitement of the birth, Pam had no time to rest and replenish her energy. She was so exhausted she could hardly climb the stairs. That was in October. By the Monday after Thanksgiving, she couldn’t walk 10 steps without leaning on something. Doctors found that a virus had attacked her heart. Her heart was performing at 13 percent capacity. She spent several weeks in the hospital and was inundated with a variety of antibiotics. Finally, doctors gave her an IV drip to boost her immune system. She made a recovery just in time to return home for Christmas.

In June 2008, Pam’s daughter, Julianna, gave birth to two beautiful twin girls. After the birth, it was obvious that Presley, the smaller of the two babies, was experiencing serious complications. Doctors found a hole in her heart and advised the family that they would have to perform surgery or Presley would not survive. They hoped to wait until she was six months old, but by two-and-a-half months, Presley simply was not thriving. Already very small, she began to lose weight. At one point, she even stopped breathing. Doctors knew delaying the surgery any further would be a fatal mistake.

Pam remembers the devastation of watching her daughter and son-in-law hand over Presley to the nurse before the surgery.

The family sat in a circle in the waiting room while doctors opened Presley’s tiny chest to repair her failing heart. Five hours later, doctors emerged with smiles on their faces. Presley would make a full recovery.

Pam knows how lucky her family is to have beaten heart disease twice.

“We’re truly blessed times two,” she said, knowing that she’ll have the joy of watching Presley play at the park. She encourages other survivors to give back.

“Help those that have experienced what you have experienced. You have the insight to know what they’re going through,” she explained. “That will lift you.”

Stephanie Wylie

Stephanie Wylie is not someone you would suspect of having a heart attack. In fact, most of the people that know her were shocked to learn that she had one, herself included.

“I thought I was eating well,” Stephanie said, thinking back. “I have always been slender and my health was fine, so I did not think I had anything to worry about.”

A heart attack was the last thought on Stephanie’s mind. Like many young people, Stephanie figured that while she remained at a healthy weight and had limited amounts of stress, she would remain in good health.

“I did not have a whole lot of stress...well, except for raising three kids,” she chuckled. “I have always had high cholesterol but never took it seriously. I had also been a smoker since I was 14.”

Those are two risk factors for heart attack and stroke. Family history is, too, but Stephanie was not aware at the time that her grandfather had a heart attack and triple bypass at 36 years old.

All of those risk factors lead to her heart attack in August of last year. She woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling of pressure in her chest and an ache in both of her arms. She thought she was getting the flu or had heart burn, so she took a bath and went back to bed.

Stephanie woke up again with the same pressure between her shoulders. Her husband, Jeff, noticed that she did not look well and asked if she needed to go to the emergency room. Stephanie said yes, but that she wanted to go to the heart hospital.

“Something in my body said I needed to go to the heart hospital,” Stephanie recalled.

She underwent a series of tests. An echocardiogram showed that she had a 99 percent blockage in her ramus artery and that she had a heart attack.

“It was not real at the moment. It did not dawn on me until I saw my husband’s face. He was so scared.”

Stephanie has had a fairly easy road to recovery. She had a stent put in to allow blood flow in the blocked artery and has since undergone cardiac rehabilitation.

Today, Stephanie exercises daily and watches her fat intake. She is proud to say that she has not had a cigarette since her heart attack.

“My lifestyle has changed,” the 37-year-old said. “I am more aware now and I watch what I eat and what I do.

“Awareness is key and little changes help. Listen to your doctors and do what you can...even simple things like choosing leaner meats can make a big difference.”

Faye Weller

Faye Weller was born in Eufaula, Oklahoma weighing in at just over two pounds. She was delivered by her father and a midwife on her family’s Oklahoma farm at a time when prenatal medical care was unheard of. Her first years were plagued with illness including jaundice and several bouts of double pneumonia.

By the time she was five years old, her country physician had begun to suspect heart complications. He became concerned for Faye’s health during the cold Oklahoma winters and suggested the family move to California, where the weather was warmer and doctors were making breakthroughs in children’s cardiac medicine. With that recommendation, Faye’s parents packed up the family and set their sights on Bakersfield. It would be the first in a series of difficult decisions that would ultimately save Faye’s life.

Doctors in California determined Faye was suffering from a congenital heart defect, most commonly known as blue baby syndrome.

“These days, if a child is born with this kind of problem, they can correct it right after birth,” Faye explained. “But no blue babies survived until 1944, when doctors came up with the surgery.”

Of course, the newly-developed surgery for those with blue baby syndrome came with a substantial risk. Doctors warned Faye’s parents that should they opt to allow surgeons to perform the operation, little Faye would only have a 20 percent chance of surviving the surgery. If they chose not to operate, doctors warned them Faye would probably only live to the age of 12.

The decision of whether or not to allow doctors to perform the operation was one that Faye’s parents struggled over.

But ultimately, it was the right decision. So Faye underwent the risky surgery to repair her broken heart, and she made a complete recovery.

Up until the surgery, Faye was unable to attend school and was educated by her mother.

When she was nine years old, she was finally allowed to go to school for the first time. She joined her brother Leon in the third grade, and went on to graduate with him with the class of 1958 at Arvin High School.

Now 70 years old, Faye spends a lot of her time with her involvement in the Daughters of the American Revolution. She will celebrate her 28th year of membership in February. She’s served in nearly every leadership role of the group. In her current position as Chaplain, she opens each meeting with a prayer and administers the oath of membership to new members.

Faye began her involvement with the American Heart Association as a teenager, collecting money door-to-door. Now she hopes her story will inspire people to value a healthy heart and live an appreciative life.

“Look at every day as the most important day of your life,” Faye said. “I feel very fortunate to be here.”

Allie Holland By Monique Stensrud

Today, Allie Holland is a healthy 17-year-old girl committed to her friends, family, and her involvement with her church.

“Besides school, I spend more time at church than anywhere else,” she said.

It’s this passion and faith that has Allie very involved with her church’s youth group and regularly goes on mission trips to do volunteer work. The importance of being involved with the church was instilled in her by her mother, Stacy.

That’s because the Hollands have a lot to be thankful for.

Allie was diagnosed with an atrial septal defect after a heart murmur was found during her one-year checkup. The wall that separated her upper heart chambers would not close completely, allowing blood to flow the wrong way. It’s a lot to deal with for a family, and a lot to overcome as an infant.

Stacy was told that Allie would need to have open-heart surgery to correct the defect. In the months that followed her diagnosis, Allie underwent several tests to ensure the procedure would be a success.

At three years old, Allie had open heart surgery to patch her heart and correct her congenital heart defect.

Stacy remembers the day she came out of surgery vividly.

“It was a horrific scene,” she recalled, after seeing her daughter’s wound from where surgeons opened her chest.

Allie’s very first words in the hospital were, “I’m fixed…now get me out of here.”

She did very well in recovery and was sent home without further complications. The youngster went to annual appointments with her cardiologist until she was cleared. Since then, Allie has been able to live an active and healthy life.

Stacy has remained faithful to God in the years since her daughter’s surgery and has passed her faith on to her daughter. That faith extends to their involvement in the American Heart Association.

Both Allie and Stacy are committed to helping others and raising awareness of heart disease in women.

Article appeared in our 27-6 Issue - February 2011