Here is some of my story (from https://www.stopafib.org/patient-stories/mellanie-true-hills/):

After almost dying in emergency heart surgery, Mellanie True Hills left her corporate executive life behind to spread the word about women and heart disease. She says, "Seven months after my initial heart problem, my heart skipped a beat, I became dizzy, my right leg grew cold, and the vision in my right eye grew fuzzy — I had blood clots and a close call with stroke due to atrial fibrillation." [Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke or heart failure.]

Mellanie lived in fear from her atrial fibrillation and being cautious became a priority, "I never knew when an episode would strike — I might be washing the dog or out walking or even on a conference call and was always afraid. My episodes would start with a skipped heartbeat, followed by strong heart palpitations. My heart would race and pound, and then the dizziness would overwhelm me. I would become light-headed and be afraid of passing out."

On September 13, 2005, I had a mini-maze surgery and became afib free. I knew I couldn't stand on the sidelines and watch others suffer like I had, so I started StopAfib.org, a nonprofit organization that helps people living with afib to manage their afib or even become afib-free. We are now global in scope. And I've fortunately been afib-free for more than 19 years.

When I launched StopAfib.org, I knew that afib was the most common unknown condition and that we needed to raise awareness, so I created Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month. I then started going to Congress with medical societies and we were able to get the Senate to declare (by unanimous consent) that September would be National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month. 

Since early on, I knew that women were undertreated, as were diverse populations. Thus, we have focused on diversity from day one. Last year, we convened a Health Equity Task Force with representatives appointed by the major medical societies, including American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Association of Black Cardiologists, and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Our task force launched a Health Equity Call to Action https://bit.ly/Afib-Health-Equity) in February of this year for Heart Month and Black History Month. Our work continues. (Here is the news story we did: https://bit.ly/AF-CTA) 

Here is an interview I did recently with The Advocacy Exchange telling my story: https://bit.ly/GRYT-SAF

There is so much more to this story, including our annual patient conference and my involvement in guidelines committees, think tanks, clinical trial steering committees, and most recently my appointment to the Cardiovascular Specialty Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the board that certifies our doctors. 

Mellanie True Hills

CEO and Founder, StopAfib.org

mhills@stopafib.org