While driving a livery taxi car in July 2007, I suffered a massive heart attack, which caused me to get into a car accident. I lost consciousness for a bit but when I came to my senses I was just grateful that I didn’t have any passengers in the car and that I had crashed into a light pole and didn’t hit anyone. If I had hurt anyone else, I would’ve been heart broken. The car was totaled, as was any jewelry I was wearing because they had to tear it away from me to resuscitate me. I learned how precious life really is that day.
Prior to my heart attack, I had been a smoker for over 40 years and followed less than a healthy lifestyle. I’m an older Dominican man so eating low in fat and exercising wasn’t exactly something my household did. After I divorced the mother of my children over 25 years ago, I moved in with my mother and brothers where we supported each other’s bad habits such as eating greasy food and smoking excessively. Ironically of all the brothers I was the one in “best” health because I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with anything or fallen ill. All of my brothers were already suffering from one health problem or another and despite their illness they continued to smoke. Everyone I new, including all 3 of my children, urged me to take better care of myself so I could prevent a horrible health problem since I was still in good health. My children begged me to stop smoking or to at least start walking more. They even bought me sneakers and comfortable clothing to walk in but I would just turn around and give them away or send them to relatives in the Dominican Republic because “they were uncomfortable or didn’t fit properly”. Needless to say everything changed when I found myself in the hospital recovering from the heart attack and encountering many complications due to the damage the smoking had done to my lungs.
Suffering the heart attack was the scariest thing I had ever experienced and I don’t want to go through something like that ever again. I decided then that I want to be around to see my grand children and to enjoy my own children much more. Therefore, I stopped smoking cold turkey and began eating healthier and going for walks. I had a pacemaker implanted a year after my heart attack because my heart was still too weak and more recently I finished treatment for prostate cancer. Despite all of that, I feel much better now then I did 3 years ago when I was suffered the heart attack. I’m kind of grateful for the experience now because it forced me to change and lead a much healthier life. I am also very grateful to the wonderful doctors that took such good care of me at Mt. Sinai hospital and who continue to take care of me there (Dr. Michael Kim and his team – Thank you!), to my children and family who took such good care of me and continue to do so as well (Thank you!) and to organizations like the AHA that help support people like me (Thank you!).
