Conquering Atrial Fibrillation

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By Doug Donaldson
Photos by Kris Hundt and John Healey

Close calls with a heart attack and stroke convinced a Texas woman to give up her high-stress life and create a network to help women reduce their risk of heart disease.

Mellanie True Hills of Greenwood, Texas, has always lived a connected life. Early in her career she helped develop one of the world’s first corporate Web sites. A few years later, as a high-tech consultant for Cisco Systems, she was on call 24 hours a day via e-mail and cell phones. Her business schedule kept her hustling from city to city.

“Every day was like jumping from an airplane with my hair on fire,” Mellanie says. “I averaged four hours of sleep a night and traveled more than 200 days a year.”

In fact, she was stepping off a plane in San Jose when she got an abrupt message from her heart in the form of a subtle pain in her left shoulder and shortness of breath. Her computer bag felt heavier than normal.

Jolt of Reality
“It had been raining a whole lot in San Jose, and I dismissed the breathing problem as molds aggravating my allergies,” she says. “I did realize, though, that women have more subtle signs of heart trouble than men. I was worried enough to see where the closest hospital was.”

Mellanie called her doctor in Austin and set up an appointment. At that appointment, her doctor ordered an electrocardiogram to measure her heart’s activity. When the doctor saw the results, she sent Mellanie straight to the hospital.