As a registered nurse in Colorado, Jennifer Harlan makes a living caring for heart patients, but in the past five years, she has survived three heart attacks herself.
Last week, Harlan, 53, had the opportunity to reunite with the EMS team that saved his life at HCA Healthcare’s Sky Ridge Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.
“I can’t thank you enough; They are the reason I am here today,” she said.
Harlan revealed the details of his heart health journey, along with his prevention tips, to Fox News Digital.
His first heart attack was in February 2018, when he was just 47 years old, he said.
“I woke up in the middle of the night with different symptoms of a heart attack: stabbing pain in my left arm, sweating, paleness, nausea,” he said.
Harlan went to the emergency department and spent the next night in the hospital, but her tests came back normal, so she was discharged.
“The symptoms returned two days later, but I ignored them, convinced there was no way I was having a heart attack,” Harlan said. “When I was seen by a cardiologist, three days after the symptoms returned, I had lost blood flow to a large part of my heart.”
Harlan’s left anterior descending (LAD) artery, which is the largest coronary artery carrying blood to the heart, had dissected, clotted, and formed scar tissue.
“I had lost 30% of my heart function,” he said.
The official diagnosis was SCAD, or spontaneous coronary artery dissection, which is a rare heart condition that occurs suddenly without warning or prior risk factors.
The next incident was almost three years later, in October 2021. Harlan was at work when he felt the same symptoms as when he had his first heart attack.
“I immediately arrived at the emergency department and was diagnosed with a second onset of SCAD, this time affecting two different arteries,” he told Fox News Digital. “But because I received help quickly, the damage was minimal.”
Almost two years later, in August 2023, Harlan had his most recent episode.
“I woke up again in the middle of the night with the same symptoms and went to the emergency department,” she said. “As my symptoms disappeared and my tests were all normal, I was finally discharged.”
Later that night, while watching TV on the couch, Harlan’s husband looked over and saw that she was unconscious and starting to turn blue.
“He knocked me to the ground, called 911 and immediately started performing CPR,” Harlan said. “I was in full cardiac arrest.”
When first responders arrived at Harlan’s home, “they shocked me twice before I got my heartbeat back,” he said.
“They transported me to the hospital, where I lost my pulse again and they shocked me again. “I ended up intubated and had a chest tube.”
Harlan spent five days in the ICU.
After doctors discovered he had another tear in a small artery that had caused a clot, Harlan was implanted with a defibrillator/pacemaker.
He also had several broken ribs and a broken sternum as a result of the CPR.
“That was the hardest part of my recovery and it took several weeks for everything to heal,” he said. “Also, when you get a pacemaker, you have very limited mobility in your left arm for several weeks while the pacemaker heals in place.”
Harlan, a nurse at Rose Medical Center, was treated at HCA Healthcare’s “sister hospital,” Sky Ridge Medical Center, which is a Level 2 trauma center.
“We are very honored to care for our colleague as a member of our own family,” said David Welcom, director of cardiovascular services at the hospital.
“Our Sky Ridge cardiovascular team is available 24/7 to ensure we provide the same level of care to our community when minutes make a difference.”
What to know about SCAD
Harlan’s condition, SCAD, has no known cause or risk factors.
Most patients with this condition are women in their 40s and 50s who are otherwise healthy, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
While there is no known specific cause, “scientists believe it is likely that multiple factors can cause SCAD, such as abnormalities in the arteries, genetics, hormonal influences, or inflammatory problems,” the AHA website states.
External stressors could also increase risk.
“I’ve always lived a healthy lifestyle,” Harlan told Fox News Digital. “I eat well and I love to exercise. “Yoga and spinning are my favorites.”
She continued: “That’s the hard part: I have no risk factors for heart disease. I have low blood pressure and low cholesterol. “Nobody saw this coming.”
Harlan has no limitations as to what he can and cannot do. Her cardiologist encourages her to be as active as she wants, she said.
She has now fully recovered and is back to doing yoga and walking for exercise.
Looking ahead, Harlan said she’s not too worried about future heart attacks.
“I never thought I’d have a third onset of SCAD, that’s practically unheard of, so I’d like to think I’m fine,” he said.
Having the internal defibrillator also adds a level of safety.
“If I were to go into cardiac arrest again, the defibrillator would return me to a normal rhythm in two minutes,” he said. “That definitely helps me and my husband sleep better at night.”
Harlan also received an echocardiogram during his last hospital visit, which showed that his heart had completely regained the 30% it lost in the first heart attack.
His next echocardiogram is scheduled for March.
Being a patient gave Harlan a different perspective on how to care for others, she said.
“It’s not enough to be a strong, intelligent clinical nurse,” she said. “You also have to understand all the anxiety that comes with being a patient in the hospital: the unknown and the unfamiliar, the worry about what the diagnosis is, the sudden lack of control you have over the most basic functions.”
The nurse believes that the hospital experience was probably easier for her because she is familiar with the clinical environment.
“I know the equipment, the tests and the lingo,” Harlan said. “For someone who has never been to the hospital before, it can be very uncomfortable.”
Learned lessons
“This whole experience has taught me that you never know what tomorrow will bring,” Harlan said.
“I am not going to live my life in fear, because there is nothing I can do to prevent it from happening again,” he added. “I just try to live each day with gratitude because three times now I have been given another chance and I am trying to be worthy of that gift.”
While SCAD may have no known risk factors or prevention methods, Harlan said it’s essential for people to pay close attention to the systems.
“Listen to your instincts,” he advised. “Even if you think there’s no way you’re having a heart attack, you can do it. Go to the hospital and get yourself checked out.”
In health care, Harlan said, a common mantra is “time is tissue.”
So, “the longer you wait to seek help for things like a heart attack and stroke, the more likely you are to suffer permanent damage and loss of function,” the nurse said.
“It’s better to go to the emergency department and be diagnosed with indigestion than to be convinced of what could be a very serious condition.”
Warning signs of SCAD include chest pain or pressure, difficulty breathing, and profuse sweating and dizziness, the AHA noted.
Harlan also stressed the importance of receiving CPR training.
According to the AHA, immediate CPR can double or triple someone’s chance of surviving a heart attack.
Michael Miller of South Metro Fire Rescue was one of the EMS team members who treated Harlan and met with her last week.
“I would advise everyone to get CPR training before something like this happens,” Miller added, according to a local CBS Colorado report.
“I’m alive today because my husband received CPR training and started doing chest compressions on me almost immediately,” Harlan said. “You never know when this could happen to a complete stranger or someone you love.”
And he added: “Get trained and save a life.”
