Putting Your Health First isn't Selfish. It's Selfless.

The Heart Attack That Changed How Nicole Cared for Herself.

When Nicole A. suffered a heart attack at 37, she wasn’t the person most people would have expected to face a health issue of such magnitude.

She was an active stay-at-home mom who enjoyed cooking, exercised regularly, and spent most of her days caring for her two young daughters. She cooked most meals at home, limited fast food, and tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Yet in December 2023, everything changed.

Her story challenges many of the assumptions people have about heart disease. More importantly, it highlights a lesson many parents—especially mothers—often struggle to accept: taking care of yourself isn’t selfish. In many cases, it’s essential.

The Symptoms Didn’t Look the Way She Expected

A few days before her heart attack, Nicole received an unexpected alert from her smartwatch.

“My watch started beeping saying that my heart rate was high considering that I was resting,” she recalled. “That never happened before.”

At the time, she brushed it off.

She was visiting a friend in Washington, D.C., one of the first times she had traveled without her children. On the day she was scheduled to fly home, she began feeling strange while walking through the airport.

“I felt like everyone was speed-walking past me and my heart was racing, but I felt like I was almost in slow motion,” she said. “Then I started getting very sweaty and my arm was getting heavy. I felt like I had something sitting on my chest.”

After sitting down and resting, the symptoms disappeared. She boarded her flight, returned home, put her children to bed, and resumed her normal routine. But later that night, the symptoms returned.

That’s when she went to the hospital.

A Diagnosis That Didn’t Seem Possible

At the hospital, Nicole’s blood pressure was dangerously high.

An initial electrocardiogram appeared normal, but blood tests revealed elevated troponin levels, a marker of heart muscle damage.

The diagnosis was shocking.

“I lost my dad to a heart attack when he was 49,” Nicole said. “I knew it was kind of hereditary, but considering I was 37 and thought that I took pretty good care of myself, it was definitely shocking.”

Further testing revealed that two of her arteries were 50% blocked. Fortunately, she didn’t require a stent, but the experience forced her to confront a reality she never expected to face.

Friends and family were equally surprised.

“They were like, ‘Nicole, you go to the gym. You cook all these good meals. You eat well,'” she said.

Her experience became a reminder that heart disease doesn’t always fit the stereotypes people often associate with it.

“It could happen to a regular woman who seems to be healthy,” she said. “It could be because of your genetics.”

Recovery Was More Than Physical

The weeks after her heart attack were some of the most difficult.

She left the hospital with several new medications and very few answers.

“They kind of send you a paper that’s like, ‘You just had a heart attack, and this is what you were prescribed.’ They don’t really tell you much after that.”

Anxiety quickly took over.

She worried about being alone with her daughters. She worried about driving. She worried that every unfamiliar sensation meant another heart attack was happening.

“The first month after was really tough,” she said.

But one challenge remained.

As a mother, finding time for herself felt almost impossible.

The Lesson Nicole Wants Every Mom to Hear

Nicole believes one of the biggest obstacles to recovery wasn’t the medications or the doctor’s appointments.

It was overcoming the guilt.

“I feel like sometimes as moms, or even just as working people, you never find the time or make the priority for yourself,” she said.

She and her husband had to sit down together and intentionally create time for her health.

That meant missing bedtime a few nights each week so she could exercise.

“I had that guilt a little bit of, ‘Oh, I’m not here to read them a story or tuck them in,'” she said. “But their dad is, and it’s okay.”

At first, her daughters didn’t understand why she was leaving to go to the gym.

“Sometimes the girls would be like, ‘Where are you going? Why are you leaving?'” Nicole said.

Eventually, those conversations changed.

“Mommy’s going to take care of herself,” she explained to them.

That shift in perspective transformed her recovery.

Healing for Herself—and for Her Daughters

Since her heart attack, Nicole has lost 65 pounds, improved her cholesterol, reversed her prediabetes, and reduced several of her medications to much lower doses.

More importantly, she says she’s become a stronger, healthier mother.

“I’m able to keep up with them. I’m able to run around with them,” she said. “I think if anything now, it’s just been overall better.”

Her daughters have noticed the changes, too.

“Sometimes she’ll be like, ‘Wow, Mommy, I can see your muscles,'” Nicole said. “My little daughter’s like, ‘Mommy, look at my pushups.'”

For Nicole, prioritizing her health wasn’t just about weight loss or lab results.

It was about being present for the moments that matter.

“I really just wanted to get in better health, really just do everything that I can to make sure that I live a long life for my kids,” she said.

That philosophy now guides every decision she makes.

Taking Care of Yourself Isn’t Selfish

Nicole’s advice to other women is simple.

“Don’t feel bad about making yourself a priority or making the time for yourself to go to the gym,” she said.

She encourages people to stop focusing on what they need to eliminate and instead think about what they can add to improve their health.

More exercise. More water. More nutritious foods. More preventative care.

But her most powerful message is directed at mothers.

“There’s this big thing with moms: mom guilt,” she said. “Don’t feel bad, because ultimately I’ll live a longer life and be here longer for my kids because I’m making this time for myself now.”

It’s a lesson she wishes she had learned earlier.

“If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of the kids.”

For Nicole, surviving a heart attack wasn’t the end of her story.

It became an opportunity to rewrite it—one where self-care isn’t viewed as a luxury, but as one of the most important gifts a parent can give their family.

Photos courtesy of Nicole A.