Shirley Allenbrand
A routine heart assessment saved her life – and turned her into a passionate heart health advocate
- Crying with joy at her son's wedding and getting to know her daughter-in-law
- Trekking across Europe with her daughter
- Meeting and getting to know her daughter-in-law
- Touring Napa Valley with her husband; golf trips with pals
- Cheering at her grandson's first T-ball game
- Falling for a little fru-fru dog she didn’t want
- Seeing her granddaughter's juvenile arthritis in remission
- Having a fund for women’s heart health named in her honor
Shirley Allenbrand says she'd have missed all that – and so much more – if she'd died suddenly in 2005 from a heart aneurysm she didn’t know she had. A similar condition claimed actor John Ritter, and more recently, U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Few people survive if the aneurysm ruptures.
Lifesaving heart assessment
What saved the Olathe businesswoman's life was a routine heart assessment at The University of Kansas Hospital. At 49, she'd had no symptoms of heart disease, no pain. She’d scheduled an assessment only because a friend at the hospital urged her to before starting intensive workouts with a personal trainer.
Results of a routine stress test alarmed the cardiologist and led to further tests. A cardiac catheterization revealed an aneurysm in her upper aorta "that was about to blow," rating 4.9 on a 5-point scale for severity. Stunned, she learned she needed a complex open heart surgery.
"They told me that even lifting a suitcase could've killed me," she remembered. "Pretty scary, considering I'd just shoveled our driveway and the neighbor's."
Life-changing experience
Fast forward six years, and you find a different Shirley. She, daughter Tiffany and daughter-in-law Heather have shed more than 160 pounds between them on a weight loss and exercise program, getting "a little competitive" at the gym. Now an avid golfer, she’ll also take on a half-marathon (13.5 miles) in Arizona this winter.
But the biggest change is her uber-passionate advocacy for improving women's heart health. A longtime civic leader in Kansas, she's thrown her high-energy organizational skills into promoting awareness of women's heart disease on the local, state and national levels.
Shirley touts The University of Kansas Hospital’s women's heart health program, A Change of Heart®, to anyone who'll listen, insisting friends and colleagues schedule assessments. A member of the hospital's Women’s Heart Health Community Advisory Council, she’s a faithful sponsor and supporter of Girls’ Night In, the annual fundraiser for A Change of Heart. She is event chair for 2011.
Heart health advocate
She’s so devoted to A Change of Heart, in fact, the hospital has named the Shirley Fund in her honor, with all proceeds benefiting the program.
"I’m just so incredibly grateful to this hospital for saving my life," she concluded. "That's why I’m so committed to helping save other women's lives through A Change of Heart."