ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Trisha Sullivan thought she was in the best shape of her life when she unexpectedly suffered a rare heart attack at the age of 47.

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) occurs when the heart becomes overexerted, stressed or when the arteries weaken, causing a tear to the artery and a blockage in the heart. It often occurs in younger women.

“After the blockage happened, after a while the blood wasn’t getting to the heart the right way, the bottom of the heart dies and that’s the heart attack part, so it’s kind of like two things in one. It’s the SCAD and then the heart attack as a result of that,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan was training for a 100-mile charity bike ride for months. On the day of the ride she was becoming easily winded and couldn’t pedal fast. She tried to push herself, but on the 57th mile, Sullivan stopped when she felt complete exhaustion throughout the body. She felt sore and tired in the days to follow, but what led to a trip to the hospital was when she passed out.

“For that to happen to someone like me was unexpected and I think I was in denial for a while. I had all the signs and symptoms, but I didn’t listen to them right away. I did listen eventually and I knew it was what was going on, but I didn’t listen right away,” added Sullivan.

Symptoms that Trisha experienced were tingling, soreness in the jaw, muscle aches and heartburn. Other symptoms that can occur are headaches, nausea, sweating and becoming hot and cold. She says it’s important to listen to the body and know that only having one or two symptoms warrants a trip to the doctor.

“Advocate for yourself. You know your body and if something doesn’t feel right, you know it’s not anxiety, you know it’s not heartburn, push. Be your best advocate and make sure that every test they can do is taken and that you’re ruling everything out because it’s better to be safe than sorry,” added Sullivan.  

Trisha’s heart has healed itself and she’s slowly getting back into the things she loves likes walking and yoga. She’s not back on the bike yet, but she says she’ll get there.

“They said a couple things that really stuck with me to help me heal. One was that I asked if I could live to be 80 and he said ‘you can live to be far older than 80 if you do two things: you never drink and drive, and you always wear your seatbelt’ and that to me is pretty good odds,” added Sullivan.