At 37 years old, I’ve survived four SCAD heart attacks, am I going to have another? 

After suffering my fourth SCAD heart attack in July 2026 I thought it was finally time to speak up and tell my story to spread more awareness and advocate for women’s health specifically SCAD.

My first SCAD happen in 2023 at age 34. I worked a normal day at my job and went to pick my daughter up from daycare. As we walked outside I suddenly felt very nauseas and knew something was off. I put my daughter in her car seat and started our 5minute drive home. In that time I started to feel like my arms were going dead and slight chest pain had started. As we drove into the driveway I jumped out of the car and was severely sick, nothing like I have ever felt before. Jokingly I messaged my family group chat and said it feels like I just had a ‘heart attack’. I got into bed curled up and didn’t really think much more into it.

10 days later I woke up late into the night with chest pain, the sweats and my arms felt dead just like before. As it was the middle of the night I stayed in bed curled up again not wanting to wake anyone with my young daughter in the room next door and fell back asleep. I woke up pale and felt like my whole body was hurting but had to be at work to open up. By 9am I left work and got a last minute doctors appointment at 11am. I told my doctor what had happen over the last two weeks so he sent me off for blood tests down the road and said to come back for an ECG. The ECG was performed and I remember him saying ‘don’t be alarmed but I have called an ambulance there is some abnormalities to your heart’. This is when I knew something wasn’t right. Once at the hospital they performed another ECG and sent off my bloods which came back with incredibly high troponin levels. I stayed in hospital for a couple of nights with many tests being done including an angiogram which then and  there identified a tear in my artery leading to the diagnosis of Spontaneous Coronary artery dissection. I had never heard of SCAD and had no idea what and why it had happen.

My third SCAD happen in 2025 a week after my second child was born. I had a friend over and at the end of our catchup this cloud came over me. I started to get the sweats and felt very nauseas. Once she walked out the door I was severely sick, my arms went dead and chest pain started. I knew straight away and called an ambulance. My medical team had told me the risks of SCAD during pregnancy and postpartum but the percentage was low. I couldn’t believe it had happen.

My fourth SCAD happen in July of this year. It was 8am and I had just sat on the ground to play with my two daughters. This time I felt dizzy and nauseas. I went to the bathroom and was sick, arms went dead and slight chest pain. Surely it wasn’t happening again.. but it did and back to hospital.

The hospital and my cardiologist have all been amazing in the care they have provided but we need more answers. SCAD can happen to young, healthy women and it doesn’t always look or feel like the ‘typical’ heart attack. It’s a tear in the wall of a coronary artery that can restrict blood flow to the heart and it can be incredibly easy to dismiss the symptoms. Listen to your body, speak up when something doesn’t feel right, and advocate for yourself. You know your body better than anyone. I jokingly said to myself during my first one ‘I feel like I am having a heart attack’ and I was right.