Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
One local nurse survived a heart attack + now she encourages others with her story
Reading time: 4 minutes
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Erin Murphy has always loved being active and considered herself to be in good health, but her world turned upside down after a heart attack last summer.
Now, she’s using her experience to encourage others. Keep reading for Erin’s story and what advice she has for taking care of your health.
Meet Erin Murphy
Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Erin moved to Birmingham in 2017 to finish her bachelor’s degree at UAB.
After four years as an inpatient nurse at UAB, Erin was offered a job as an inpatient charge nurse on the Adult Psychiatric Unit at Shelby Baptist Hospital in Alabaster.
Last June, Erin was making her rounds on the unit when she started getting shooting pains down her left arm and shortness of breath.
She told her manager, who then called rapid response.
Erin was taken to the Emergency Department, and a few hours later, doctors said that her troponin was elevated.
Troponin is an enzyme in the heart that plays a vital role in muscle contraction, so elevated troponin levels indicate damage to the heart muscle.
Raising awareness for SCAD
Cardiologists discovered that Erin had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), which is a condition where a tear occurs in the wall of the coronary artery, causing blood to accumulate between the layers of the artery wall, leading to a heart attack.
Through this scary and uncertain time, Erin praised her doctors at Shelby Baptist for making her feel at ease.
“Dr. Bender took amazing care of me, and her care did not end when I was discharged from the ICU. She helped me get a SCAD specialist, wrote me referrals and she’s just been incredible.”
Now, nearly one year later, Erin is raising awareness for SCAD and heart health.
Did you know that SCAD is the number one cause of heart attack in women under 50?
“Even though I didn’t think I fit the demographic, upon further research, stress is what can cause this.
I wasn’t dealing with the stressors in my life, though at the time, I thought I was. After talking to my SCAD specialist and doing a lot of research, we determined that prolonged stress caused my SCAD.”
Erin’s advice for protecting your heart
- Ask questions. “Don’t take what you’re given for an answer as the end-all, be-all. If you don’t feel heard or if you feel dismissed, listen to your gut and continue to ask questions.”
- Get active. “Move. Do something. If you can’t do what you want to do, figure out what you can do. I found Meta Fitness in Liberty Park, and Garrett and Hunter have been paramount in reinventing a workout plan safe for my heart.”
- Listen to your body. “You can think you’re doing all the right things, but your body feels the effects of the constant stress you’re carrying. And if something doesn’t feel okay, you need to pursue it.”
We all have hearts, so it’s important that we know how to protect them. Erin’s story is a great reminder that we can all be proactive in keeping our hearts healthy!
Check out Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama’s heart health resources.
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