By Robin Gee, Hyde Park Living Editor
February is American Heart Month, an effort to raise awareness, as well as money for research to combat the disease. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 17.9 million people die of heart diseases every year, a number that is expected to rise to 23.6 million by the year 2030.
For women, one in three deaths can be attributed to heart disease. Go Red for Women is the American Heart Association’s project that draws our attention to this disease.
We are grateful to bring you a story of a local woman, a business executive, wife and mother who has faced the issue head on. Thank you to Tonia Elrod for sharing her story. We also thank Lori Fovel, communications director for the Greater Cincinnati American Heart Association for bringing us this story.
She died and now, Tonia wants you to live
Tonia Elrod is the epitome of success and hope.
The Procter & Gamble executive has worked hard to achieve great accomplishments in her career. She lives a happy life in Hyde Park with her husband, Adam, and their three children — Caden, Gavin and Maley.
But on Feb. 2, 2019, her life would take a turn in a direction she could never have imagined.
That Saturday morning started off no different than any other. Slept in, enjoyed breakfast. She said a quick goodbye to her husband and kids, and she headed to her circuit-training class, like she does every Saturday. She wouldn’t consider herself a gym fanatic, but she knew the training was good for her. It helped to keep things like cholesterol and blood pressure in check, and at the very least, it cleared her head
After class, she pulled into her drive, walked in, and after greeting her boys, started to sense a loss of feeling in her arm, felt nauseous, and extremely exhausted. Then, it all stopped.
Despite appearing healthy and active, the 45-year-old suffered a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest for the first of what would be five times.
Adam called 911, pleading with them to get EMS to their house as quickly as possible. His wife was dying.
The 911 operator instructed Adam how to perform CPR. It would take paramedics 20 minutes to get Tonia stable before they got her into the ambulance. She was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Tonia was diagnosed with heart failure — a shock to everyone who knew her. Until this life-changing event, she experienced no symptoms. The only indication: a family history of heart disease.
Tonia’s heart, lungs and kidneys shut down. Doctors put her on a ventilator and put a stent in her heart.
It seemed Tonia was stable and Adam could head home to gather his belongings. Only minutes after leaving the hospital to pick up some things from home, Adam was called back because Tonia had gone into cardiac arrest again. He remained calm and collected through all of this — optimistic she would survive even when it seemed bleak.
She was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) device to do the work that her heart was unable to do. “Tonia’s case was no doubt rare—a younger, healthy patient experiencing acute heart failure,” said Louis Benson Louis IV, MD, chief of cardiac surgery at UC Medical Center. “We immediately put Tonia on ECMO life support.”
After 48 hours, Tonia began to wake up, and then after 5 days her heart became strong enough to support her without life support. Clinicians and nurses continued to console Adam and the rest of Tonia’s friends and family during this challenging time. Friends and family helped to take care of the kids while Adam stayed by Tonia’s bedside every night for the two weeks she was there. Their community of friends and family even raised $7,000 for the American Heart Association in her honor.
After leaving the hospital, Tonia did inpatient therapy for two weeks, and then four more months of outpatient therapy. Tonia shared that she’s completed hours of occupational therapy, physical therapy, vocabulary refreshing, and memory exercises. There were days she was unable to stand and would get dressed on the floor. But she persevered with an incredible will to fully recover. Tonia approached it the same way she’s approached her successful career, with hard work and determination.
Tonia was able to run the 15K Heart Mini-Marathon in March of 2022 – an incredible accomplishment!
She takes life a little slower than she used to but remains dedicated to her family, friends and her job. She said, “I think my life overall is much slower. Things bother me less. I’m not concerned by issues at work, or something’s going wrong, ‘oh my kid forgot to tell me they had to be picked up’ — KIDS. (She chuckles.) It’s just slower.
She said she doesn’t consider this experience a setback but rather an impetus to focus on educating others.
Tonia is a passionate volunteer for the American Heart Association. She shared her incredible story in a video highlighted at the 2023 Go Red for Women Experience at Great American Ball Park. She is a dedicated volunteer and supporter of all the American Heart Association campaigns, including Go Red for Women, the Greater Cincinnati Heart Ball and the Heart Mini-Marathon and Walk.
“I don’t think you know why something happens to you. I’m grateful that I’m here and I want to use the extra time that I have to enjoy time with my friends and family — and to give back. I need to get the word out that heart disease is the number one killer of men and women,” she said.
[SIDEBAR]
Some facts about women and heart disease (from Go Red for Women)
- Cardiovascular disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined and yet only 44% of women recognize that cardiovascular disease is their greatest health threat.
- Among females 20 years and older, nearly 45% are living with some form of cardiovascular disease and less than 50% of women entering pregnancy in the United States have good heart health.
- Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of new moms and accounts for over one-third of maternal deaths. Black women have some of the highest maternal mortality rates.
- Overall, 10% to 20% of women will have a health issue during pregnancy, and high blood pressure, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes during pregnancy greatly increase a woman’s risk for developing cardiovascular disease later in life.
- Going through menopause does not cause cardiovascular disease, but the approach of menopause marks a point in midlife when women’s cardiovascular risk factors can accelerate, making increased focus on health during this pivotal life stage is crucial.
- Most cardiac and stroke events can be prevented through education and lifestyle changes, such as moving more, eating smart and managing blood pressure.
- 51.9% of high blood pressure deaths, otherwise known as hypertension or the “silent killer,” are in women, and out of all women, 57.6% of Black females have hypertension — more than any other race or ethnicity.
- While there are an estimated 4.1 million female stroke survivors living today, approximately 57.5% of total stroke deaths are in women.
- Women are often less likely to receive bystander CPR because rescuers often fear accusations of inappropriate touching, sexual assault or injuring the victim.
- Women continue to be underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, as well as in research. In fact, women occupy nearly half of all U.S. jobs (48%), but only 27% of jobs in STEM fields. Furthermore, only 38% of participants in clinical cardiovascular trials are women.
- Losing even one woman to cardiovascular disease is too many.
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