An Affair of the Heart with Michaela Gagne Hetzler

Many young people have underlying heart conditions with no symptoms. In fact, the most common condition that can cause Sudden Cardiac Arrest is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, or HCM, and as many as 1 in 500 people have this heart condition. ECG’s can detect past silent heart attacks in adults that may put them at greater risk for future severe cardiac issues. Michaela Gagne, Miss Massachusetts 2006, competed for the title of Miss America 2007 with her platform titled, Heart Health: Listen, Learn, and Live, because she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition and had undergone surgery for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator at the age of 17. She is currently a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign, and also for SADS (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes) Foundation, as well as Parent Heart Watch, a group of parents making great strides in legislative and national awareness in memory of the children they have lost to Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Michaela and I will be discussing her life’s journey, and her current global mission work with Heartbeat International, an organization that provides surgery and the means for pacemakers, defibrillators, and other devices to be implanted in some of the one million people who are dying every year without these procedures. Please call 347.327.9995 on Tuesday February 8th from 10-11 am U.S. CT to listen to Machaela and I talk about how we can all help in raising awareness about this intimate affair with our heart!