 Hi, I'm Amanda and I'm 38 years old and I am a heart warrior I like to call myself heart hero. I had aortic stenosis. It was congenital so I was born with it They didn't really discover it until I was I think around 15 months old So from the time that I was 15 months old until now I was in a cardiologist's office once a year I would always have a line of medical students lined up to listen to my classic aortic stenosis And aortic stenosis is where you have a bicuspid valve instead of a tricuspid valve And it was something that they just monitored when I was younger and they weren't quite sure where it was going to Take me later on in life. They told my parents that I might not be able to have children Playing competitive sports or being really active would probably be out of the question So every year that we would go to my checkups after the long line of the medical students would line up to listen to me We would wonder okay, what is the report going to be? Is it going to be time to Replace this valve Do I have a little bit more time before I'm going to have to do that? What's going to be the deal so? Flash forward to when I turn 30 I found a high-risk OBGYN went and visited her and She said I think you're gonna be okay to have children Go right ahead so and I should mention too In college I was a cheerleader So I lettered in college and I also taught aerobics and I taught Zumba so I think with Me growing technology also grew and that's what helped realize. Okay, you can teach aerobics You can cheer you can have children So the funding and the awareness that was raised along with me growing up I'm really thankful for because that was able to buy me some time and able to help me have a child and To cheer in college. So I had my first child a son back in 2012. Everything was great He turned a year old and I went in for my annual visit and my cardiologist said, how are you feeling being an oh goodness Should I be feeling any differently because I feel fine. He said well your echo is showing that your aerox stenosis is very severe and You're probably gonna need surgery Very very soon. So here I am with this one year old little boy And I'm wondering am I gonna be alive To watch him grow up. I was petrified They were able to do a heart cath on me That was my very first time having a heart cath and I was so scared to do it But I'm so glad that I did Because it was able to show that it wasn't nearly as severe as they thought and I had a little bit more time And they said if you want to have one more child because I felt like that was just in the cards for me To have one more Go ahead sooner rather than later. I need to go ahead so By the grace of God, I was able to have a daughter in 2015 and When she was three I started to feel extremely tired and I just thought huh it's just because I have at this Three year old and this five year old and I'm running after them constantly and they have a crazy schedule So I went in and saw my general practitioner and she said let's go ahead and do an echo because it's been almost two years Since you had one and she did the echo and she said I Think it's gonna be time to do this. So then I'm like, oh great now I have two children and my husband and I just don't know if I can Do this but I went in and I met who was Divinely my surgeon Dr. Bolomonakos and his whole team I Walked in and I just felt okay. I feel like I can actually go through With this I feel a sense of peace and I feel a sense of comfort Let's please do this but I went in And I went in at seven o'clock that morning and I didn't get done until seven o'clock that night But here I am and I have a beautiful new accessory That I didn't know if I was gonna be able to embrace I remember telling my husband right before they wheeled me back that my chest was never ever gonna look the same Again, and I wasn't quite sure how it feel about that There was a nurse who was in the hospital during my recovery and she said whenever you're ready to look at your scar It is beautiful and it's not gonna define who you are Someone who might feel like they're really alone in the situation I would say please talk about it when I was younger and even into My early and mid-20s I never wanted to talk about it because I felt like a freaking nature and I felt like I was a science experiment But I found the more that I've talked about it The more I realized so many people have it in common with me And that was how I found my cardiologist who I have right now and that's how I found my surgeon So just please don't feel like you're alone. The more that you talk about it the more you're gonna realize how normal it truly is and You're gonna find your support system and your support team who will help you get through. I Just want to share that if I can do it you can do it We are women and there's so many things that We do and so many hats that we try to wear and it is okay to Ask for help and it is okay to say I need to take a break and go check on myself because heart disease is the number one killer of women and I just want us all to band together and wear our red and look out for one another and just really Take charge of everything that you can and don't be afraid to talk about it Join us on Friday February 7th for the Go Red Columbia press conference and day party at the Charles R. Drew Wellness Center from 12 to 2 p.m. Registration is open and free at GoRedColumbia2020.eventbright.com