Carol Allred
Carol Allred awoke five years ago to a strange feeling: she was overly tired and had severe pain across her back and shoulders. Then 60, Allred attributed her symptoms to the previous day's activities, which involved traveling and celebrating her grandson's birthday. As the day progressed, Allred experienced shortness of breath, but assumed it was triggered by allergies. Eventually, she visited the emergency room where she was told she was having a heart attack. "Because I hadn't understood what was happening quickly enough I had some pretty serious damage," she recalls. Allred suffered damage to her left ventricle and spent six months in and out of the hospital. She underwent surgeries to implant a defibrillator and a stent, a mesh tube designed to prop open an artery. One day, she received a newsletter from the defibrillator manufacturer and discovered a link to WomenHeart. "I read the site and said, ‘This is what I've been looking for.'" Today, despite taking 10 medicines, Allred is doing well. "I know I will always have impairment, but my overall health is good and I think the good Lord knows I have a mission here." Allred describes WomenHeart as her passion and the women she has met through the Science and Leadership Symposium as "sisters." She is president of the organization's board of directors and speaks regularly to women with heart disease, both in her home state of Texas and beyond. "Numerous times someone has contacted me after I've spoken and said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.'"
