cover image AN ARROW THROUGH THE HEART: One Woman's Story of Becoming Whole After a Heart Attack

AN ARROW THROUGH THE HEART: One Woman's Story of Becoming Whole After a Heart Attack

Deborah Daw Heffernan, . . Free Press, $24 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-7432-2922-7

Despite her apparent good health, in May 1997, Heffernan suffered a massive heart attack during a yoga class. Proximity to a Cambridge, Mass., hospital and the swift response of rescue workers saved her initially. Emergency double bypass surgery and the subsequent implantation of a defibrillator has allowed her to survive for the past five years. Surprisingly, Heffernan was relatively young (44), physically fit and a nonsmoker with low cholesterol who adhered to a nutritious diet when her heart failed her. In this insightful and openly emotional account, Heffernan details her illness and the life changes that occurred afterward. Happily married since 1989 to Jack, 13 years older with five grown children, Heffernan saw her relationship with her husband grow even stronger as he became her caregiver during a lengthy convalescence. Heffernan gave up her high-pressure job as a corporate training executive, and she and Jack moved permanently from Cambridge to their peaceful Maine vacation home. The author's enforced period of inactivity forged links with Jack's children, who had formerly been distant from their father's new wife, and she became closer to her sisters. Although her heart has been severely damaged and a transplant may eventually be needed, Heffernan nicely describes how she has found peace of mind and a new pleasure in daily living because of this unexpected brush with death. (May)