The local walk raising awareness and money for the unexpected cause of death in women

Posted on 25 September, 2024

10 years ago, at the age of 41, Liza Stearn had a heart attack.

She was fit, she was healthy and, as she began to sweat and feel faint, she thought she was simply unwell.

Attending an open home with her husband, at first Liza refused to call an ambulance. But as her symptoms got worse – pain in her arm, hot flushes, and nausea – her husband finally convinced her that she needed medical attention.

Within minutes of the ambulance arriving, Liza went into cardiac arrest. Technically, she was dead.

“I don’t remember any of this,’ says Liza. ‘I was very lucky that they were there because they were able to start CPR immediately.”

“I was put into an induced coma in ICU for about a week and I had a balloon inserted into my heart, which was doing the pumping for me….I was intubated and woken up about a week later. I spent six weeks in hospital. Before I left, I also had an internal cardiac defibrillator implanted.”

“I couldn’t believe it. I was in disbelief, and it was a bad heart attack – not that there is such a thing as a good heart attack – but this was a doozy.”

Told that she had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), Liza says now that she is lucky to be alive.

The number one cause of heart attacks in women under 50, pregnant women, and new mums in Australia, SCAD occurs when a sudden tear happens within the layers of one or more arteries to the heart, blocking blood flow.

For many SCAD survivors, the cause is unknown. And while she was presenting with all of the heart attack symptoms women experience (because disease symptoms in women can differ from those in men), Liza didn’t think for a moment that she was having a heart attack.

“I’ve always looked after myself, l always exercised – I ran, swam, hiked and kayaked; things like that,” she says.

“I had previously had a dissection of my carotid artery back in 2007 and that’s what they kept referring to. Although it was a heart attack out of the absolute blue, it was related to the dissection of my carotid artery. I also know now that I have an underlying condition called fibromuscular dysplasia…. For a lot of people who have had SCAD or any kind of dissection of arteries, often FMD as an underlying condition.”

Before her own diagnosis, Liza had never heard of SCAD – but if she had, she says she might have taken her symptoms more seriously.

“Young women do have heart attacks, and I think getting that knowledge out is so important because it’s dismissed,” she says.

‘I had a huge heart attack with unmistakable symptoms towards the end, but in the beginning, maybe if I had known that I am prone to heart attacks or that it can happen to women, I would have taken it a little bit more seriously.’

Helping to raise money to understand, diagnose, treat, and ultimately prevent SCAD, on Sunday 27 October the 2024 5K Scadaddle will be taking place in Canberra. Inviting people to register to walk, skip or run 5km, it’s a step towards stopping unexpected deaths in otherwise fit and healthy young women.

Liza says a key step forward is changing conversations around heart attacks in women – and believing them when they say something is wrong.

“When you think of a heart attack or you see it on TV, it’s usually a middle-aged to elderly man who is a little bit overweight with a potbelly clutching at his chest,’ says Liza.

“It’s just not the case for women…If a woman in their 40s is hospitalised, it’s often put down as an anxiety attack or panic attack or indigestion.”

“I remember when I went to the cardiac rehab at the hospital, they thought I was a trainer because I was so young. No one expects that kind of thing.”

Looking back, Liza still can’t believe that she survived SCAD. From flatlining to waking up in the hospital, to a long six-month recovery that affected her stamina, reflexes and cognitive function, she’s grateful to all of the medical professionals who have helped her along the way.

“I remember not wanting to bother the ambulance because I thought, ‘I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine’… I think that’s so important for people to know that if they think they are having a heart attack to get themselves to a hospital, to call an ambulance. If they weren’t there, I would not be here today,”

“I’m incredibly lucky that I am as good as I am, considering what I went through. At the time they weren’t sure when they were waking me up if I’d be a vegetable, if I was going to make it, if the kids needed to come in and say goodbye to me.”

“It was very serious at the time. I am extremely grateful and lucky to be how I am today.”

Find out more at SCADresearch.com.au and register for the 2024 5K Scadaddle scadaddle.com.au.