CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A local mother had a serious heart problem in pregnancy and nobody believed her until she, and her baby, almost died. Now, she is raising awareness of it for other women and says it can have deadly consequences -- especially if undiagnosed.
The "Go Red for Women" campaign is part of the American Heart Association's message each February, which is National Heart Month. The hope is that women will hear a message that could be life-saving.
You'd never know it when you look at her family now -- the picture of perfect health -- but while still pregnant, Golda Gilkison had a diagnosis that nearly cost her her own life.
In 2015, 10 weeks postpartum with her third baby, Gilkison was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy and was in chronic heart failure.
"Fast forward to 2018, I actually have a genetic component, so I probably had cardiomyopathy for years and it went undiagnosed because nobody caught it because I looked like I was a young, healthy woman," Gilkison said.
Her medical team at The Christ Hospital says she is one of the lucky ones. It was identified just in time, but that's not always the case.
"Cardiomyopathy is a case of heart failures -- actually the No. 1 problem in the United States. It's caused by lots of different things. But the point is, if you recognize it, we have lots of good treatments and you actually could make it better," said Dr. Tim Henry of The Christ Hospital.
Now, Gilkison is speaking up for this year's Go Red for Women campaign. She wants you to know any woman at any age can experience symptoms and you need to act to save your own life.
"I honestly didn't know there was a connection...At the time that I was diagnosed, I didn't know there was a congestive heart failure that you could get from just being pregnant. I mean, I have a whole list of women that got it just -- you know, they don't have any genetic marker that they know of. They may find out in 10, 15 years that they do, but, you know, healthy pregnant women go into heart failure. I didn't know that was a thing," she said.
"Fortunately, it's relatively uncommon, but the key is recognizing it and then doing something to fix it," said Dr. Henry.
Gilkison says, in hindsight, she had symptoms and nobody believed anything was really wrong. She speaks up now to remind women to be your own advocate.
Go Red for Women Day is Feb. 7.
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