With all our problems with our hearts, we feel like we're better off at the cardiac rehab center. We feel safe here. We feel comfortable and like it here.
Stent sisters prove heart health is all in the family
There are many things that connect three sisters from McHenry County; they married Irish men and have been married for more than 50 years each, they have many healthy children and grandchildren and they have all suffered from heart problems over the past two years.
Charlotte McDonough, 72, McHenry; Norita McAndrews, 74, McHenry; and Mary Ann Quinn, 79, Johnsburg, also are all going through cardiac rehab together at Centegra Hospital-McHenry. They go three times a week for one hour and humorously refer to themselves as the “Stent Sisters.”
Charlotte is the youngest of the sisters but was the first to notice pains in her neck before undergoing nuclear stress tests.
“Our mom and dad both had heart problems so even though I had no history of high cholesterol or high blood pressure myself, I knew to get that pain checked out,” Charlotte said. “I had a 99% blockage in my main artery so we had a stent put in a day or two later. Then I told my sisters they better get stress tests.”
Shortly thereafter, Norita, who was actually being treated for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, began noticing herself easily out of breath. She failed a stress test and turns out she had an 85% blockage so she had a stent put in as well.
“Months later, an angiogram showed that my first stent was clogged and that I had another two blockages elsewhere,” Norita said. “So I actually have four stents right now, one inside another, and another 50% blockage that I’m hoping will improve on its own with my medication and the right kind of diet and exercise.”
Mary Ann is the oldest of the sisters, the tiniest at about 95 pounds and is the only one to have survived two full heart attacks. Last fall she noticed pain in her arm and what felt like gas pain in her chest. Knowing what her sisters had recently gone through, Mary Ann sought medical attention. Years earlier, however, she had not responded to similar symptoms and suffered a silent heart attack.
“When I went to get checked for the pain, they told me that the tissue around my heart indicated I had already suffered a heart attack years earlier and didn’t even know it,” Mary Ann said. “Right after my surgery when they put in two stents, they told me my heart was so weak that it actually stopped beating for about 10 minutes.”
“She really had it bad. We’re lucky she’s still with us,” Charlotte said. “That’s why we work out together so we can keep an eye on each other and push each other when we need to.”
At the Centegra Cardiac Rehabilitation Center in McHenry, the sisters use a rowing machine, exercise bike, treadmill and other machines during their exercise routines. They use each machine for 10 minutes and are closely monitored. Their blood pressure and pulses are checked before, during and after each session.
“With all our problems with our hearts, we feel like we’re better off at the cardiac rehab center. We feel safe here. We feel comfortable and like it here,” Norita said. Charlotte and Mary Ann also volunteer at the Centegra Sage Cancer Center.
The sisters finish each other’s sentences and tell each other’s heart stories just like they are their own. Mary Ann said her younger sisters like to tease and pick on her, but they’re all still very close. “We have a lot in common so we still talk to one another. We’re sisters so we squabble and we disagree but we’re still together and that’s what’s important.”