Montco Mom Shares Near Death Experience In Hopes Of Spreading Awareness

Nine years ago, life was good for Montgomery County's Stephanie Austin: she thought she was in the best shape of her life. She played tennis. She lifted weights. She played on three soccer teams. She was not the kind of person you would expect to have any kind of heart issues. She was just 35-years-old.

But as she shared in a recent op-ed with Philly.com, all was not good. Something wasn't quite right. And one fateful night, she suffered cardiac arrest in her sleep.

Her husband is an orthopedic surgeon, and his CPR almost surely saved her life. She was later diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes it hard for the heart to deliver blood to the rest of her body, she writes.

Now, she's using her experience to advocate for the American Heart Association in hopes that her experience can be a life-saving lesson to countless others.

She's at the forefront of the fight to ensure students in Pennsylvania schools are taught CPR, which she says in the most important way to prevent premature deaths due to heart conditions like hers.

"Saving more lives means more people need to be trained. One way to provide universal training at an early age is to ensure high school students learn CPR. In fact, many students have saved family, friends, and even teachers using the skills they learned in school," she wrote in a letter on Yourethecure.org in March.

The legislation is currently being considered by the state House and Senate. PA House Bill 1464 and Senate Bill 948 would guarantee that all students are taught the life-saving skill as a part of their required schooling.

Austin, a Bryn Mawr resident and South Jersey native who graduated from Albright College, also works on other heart-related advocacy issues as a Board Member with the local chapter of the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. Specifically, she's promoting the CPRReady program, which aims to educate residents of Philadelphia on CPR methods, to add to the force of students who will hopefully be learning CPR in schools. According to CPRReady, more than 1,1000 died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2016.

"Even when I thought I was in the best shape of my life, I was at risk for heart disease and cardiac arrest," she writes. "This is why knowing your family history and personal health numbers are among the most important things you can do for your own wellbeing. The power lies within you to make a change to save your life or the life of another. Trust me, don’t wait!"

Image via CPRReady