Christie Klassen from Altona experienced her first heart attack at only 39 years old. After surviving a second one a year later, she is now sharing her experience to help other women recognize the signs. 

"I was working from home and homeschooling my youngest," says Klassen. "I wouldn't say I have a very stressful life and there wasn't any sign that I was going to be having a heart attack." 

One evening as Klassen was putting the dishes away after dinner, she felt off.

"I said, 'I don't feel right.' Within seconds I had a really sharp pain in my jaw. I all of a sudden had pain in both arms and down my back. My husband walked me into the kitchen, sat me down on a chair and I just slumped forward."

Klassen was experiencing a major heart attack and within a couple minutes of all the symptoms, her husband was on the phone with 9-1-1. The first responder to show up was their oldest son, Noah, a volunteer firefighter. 

"He handled it like a champ. It was relieving to see him after I came out of surgery and be back in my normal mom role. Combined with 'I'm so proud of you and you followed protocol really well.'"

Klassen was taken to St. Boniface Hospital and she says it's the best place they could have taken her for a heart attack. She knew this because Klassen had a second heart attack a year later while on a holiday in the Dominican Republic. 

"My (second) heart attack was not quite as severe as the first one and I still had months of recovery. It was not pleasant not being at St. Boniface Hospital for that experience."

As a pastor's wife, Klassen says her faith played a major role throughout the past two years. 

"It's easy to forget, that regardless of my health situation, my life is in His hands in every moment. To live that way is so much more freeing to know that I am here because He still wants me here and He still has a plan for me."

What Women Should Look For

Even though Klassen was the only person in the heart unit without grey hair, she shares that women should know there are no age limits to having a heart attack. 

"Women experience heart attacks often differently than men do. That feeling of 'off-ness' very quickly progressed for me, it was a couple minutes. Being aware of this, it's not just a pain in the shoulder, but it can be a feeling of indigestion, back pain, jaw pain, nausea, sweating for no reason and a feeling of doom. All of these things combined, by all means, call an ambulance. Dial, don't drive."

Klassen knows that if her husband tried to drive her to the hospital, she easily could have died. She says the ambulance is a moving hospital and they have the right tools to help the whole time. 

"Shout out to paramedics and first responders. They are total life savers."

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