Carolyn Thomas

When Carolyn Thomas was discharged from her local hospital's cardiac intensive care unit after surviving what physicians call the "widow maker" heart attack, she threw herself into figuring out what had just happened to her. Why had that ER doctor misdiagnosed her with acid reflux and sent her home - despite her textbook symptoms of chest pain, nausea, sweating and pain radiating down her left arm? Why had all of her cardiac diagnostic tests results been "normal"? Why was she now suddenly feeling like an emotional train wreck, and would she ever get her old life back? She learned the answers to these - and many more - questions when she was accepted for the annual WomenHeart Science and Leadership training at the world-famous Mayo Clinic. When she returned home, she started sharing what she'd just learned about women's heart health - and the cardiology gender gap between how men and women are diagnosed and treated. Since then, she's spoken to thousands of women (and a few men!) at her popular "Heart Smart Women" presentations, as one reviewer dubbed them: "part cardiology bootcamp, and part stand-up comedy!" Her book, 'A Woman's Guide to Living with Heart Disease', is based on her award-winning blog, Heart Sisters - www.myheartsisters.org (which has had over 19 million views from 190 countries so far). Carolyn is likely the first author ever published by Johns Hopkins University Press who does not have at least one graduate degree. She lives on the beautiful west coast of Canada, where her darling grandbabies, Everly Rose and Zachary David, do her heart good.