Making Rounds
A heart attack survivor counts her blessings and shares her story.
In 2015, Almeta Taylor was living in New Smyrna, Florida, and was a very busy woman. As a stylist and platform artist for a major global hair care brand, she spent her time traveling to hair shows, expos and fashion events around the world.
One afternoon, while visiting her son in Fayetteville, she was out shopping when she started to feel some pain and pressure in her chest. She ignored it at first, and it subsided—but only briefly.
“I’m walking around with the basket, and I’m on the phone with my sister,” she said, “when suddenly my chest started hurting again. And I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s hurting again. It’s so much pressure.’”
Hearing the alarm in her sister’s response, Taylor insisted she was fine and waited for the wave of pain to recede again. When it did, she felt a wave of nausea and ran to the bathroom to vomit. Feeling much better, she chalked it all up to an upset stomach and went on with her day.
But later, a new symptom emerged. She had driven to her son’s apartment complex, where he lived on the third floor.
“And when I walked up the stairs,” Taylor said, “I had to stop several times to catch my breath. That wasn’t like me at all.”
A few more days into her visit, she awoke in excruciating pain, unable to move. She called out to her son, who called 911.
Within minutes, first responders had transported her to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. After some testing, her cardiologist confirmed what Taylor’s family had feared.
“He said, ‘You had a massive heart attack,’” Taylor said. “And I thought, that can’t be right. How could that be possible if I can hear you talking?”
As many people do, Taylor had assumed a major heart attack would unfold the way it often does in movies: an abrupt, agonizing pain followed by a total loss of consciousness. But for most patients—and particularly for women—the initial symptoms can be more subtle. Taylor’s chest pressure, shortness of breath and nausea were three of the most common signs of a heart attack.
Not long after absorbing that news, Taylor learned that she would need triple-bypass surgery to restore the blood flow in her heart. The thought of such a serious procedure terrified her, and she nearly refused.
“But my children and my siblings, along with Dr. Okoroafor, made me feel comfortable,” she said. “He explained everything so clearly, and the nurses were all so caring. My family was so worried, and after a while I decided to go ahead with the surgery.”
Taylor said her recovery is a bit of a blur, but she came through it successfully. She remembers a flurry of follow-up appointments and the support she received with insurance challenges as her heart healed.
“Dr. Okoroafor told me I’d just had a million-dollar surgery,” she said, smiling. “So sometimes I tell people, ‘You have no idea who I am. I’m a millionaire, you just can’t see it.’”
More than a decade later, Taylor has made it her mission to share her story with others. She has written a book and is working on her second. She hosts events at her church and other venues to raise awareness about heart health. Earlier this year, she attended Cape Fear Valley’s Heartfelt Banquet, honoring survivors of cardiac emergencies.
“I just think it’s so important to talk about,” she said. “You can live with one kidney, and you can live with one lung. But you only have one heart, so what happens when your heart stops functioning?”
Now living in Fayetteville, Taylor has had several stays at Cape Fear Valley since 2015. She said she is always moved by the kindness of hospital staff, many of whom she now considers friends.
“Whenever I’m on the heart floor, I always ask, ‘Is Donna here?’ She was one of my first nurses, and she’s always so encouraging.”
Another constant source of strength has been Taylor’s family and close friends. On the day of her heart attack, her siblings and two adult sons helped her face her fears and choose life-saving surgery.
“And since then,” she said, “both of my sons are married with families of their own. I now have six grandchildren, and I’m here to watch them grow. God really has been so good to me. If sharing my heart journey helps at least one person who hears it, my going through it was not in vain.”
