Go Red for Women: Monica Mackey-Walker
Monica Mackey-Walker
On Jan. 15, 2021, Monica Mackey-Walker was home alone when she started experiencing chest and arm pain. She called her daughter, who could tell something wasn’t right and called 911. Doctors told her she had experienced a heart attack.
Shortly after, she contracted pneumonia and stayed in the hospital for 39 days. Mackey-Walker was still having shortness of breath, not being able to hold a conversation without getting tired. Doctors then discovered a leaking heart valve and sent her to a different hospital for treatment, where she underwent surgery to have an Impella heart pump placed.
Two weeks after the surgery, she was released to go home, but was only there for three days before she had to go back to the emergency room. Mackey-Walker spent the majority of her time over the next several months in and out of the hospital. Finally, the day before her 49th birthday, she was released to go home.
Mackey-Walker is still processing how her whole life changed in the blink of an eye — she’d never had any heart issues prior to this.
She says, “I’m still getting used to my valve because you can hear it ticking just like a clock. I’m thankful for the tick because it’s keeping me here, along with the good Lord above! Just like a Timex watch: ‘takes a licking and keeps on ticking.’”
Go Red for Women Luncheon
Friday, May 20
Benton Event Center.
For more information, visit heart.org
