Page 6 - Valley Life & Health

6 SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2019 THE MORNING CALL

goredforwomen

‘WOMAN OF HEART’ SCAD SURVIVOR Photography

BECOMES FULL-TIME ADVOCATE SugaShoc

Jill Kelly McComsey connects her heart health of
to both her personal and professional life courtesy

By Shannon Sigafoos of The Morning Call Photo
Jill Kelly McComsey

s a personal injury attorney, Jill Kelly Mc- In 2014, McComsey trained to work as a view of participant data, genetic analysis and
Comsey sees her clients go through Champion ambassador for WomanHeart, a advanced medical imaging. She has organized
A a trauma, worry about how their qual- leading national organization in women’s heart 5K races to raise funds, including three here
ity of life and financial security is being impacted, health, assisting with education and support. in the Lehigh Valley. She is also involved in the
and deal with all of the emotional stressors that The training took place at the world renowned Fibromuscular Dysplasia Society of America,
come with it. While it hits close to home, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and that experience which is an associated condition of SCAD.
support role she’s able to play is one that helps connected her with a local peer-to-peer support These exhaustive efforts to raise awareness
clients get their lives back – a process that she, network she was eventually asked to co-lead – showcase why she is so deserving of this year’s
too, is still going through since her heart attack an endeavor she is still involved with today. ‘Woman of Heart’ title.
at age 36. “We have a pretty decent core group of “It’s very humbling. There are so many
It’s been seven years since McComsey, who women who regularly come for events and women I deal with on a regular basis who are
works for Hof & Reid LLC in Bethlehem, was get what they need out of it, and we get them really amazing advocates for heart health and for
diagnosed with spontaneous coronary artery back on their feet and back to their life,” Mc- the cause in general. It takes a village to get the
dissection, or SCAD. This is a condition in which Comsey explains. message out and provide support to the people
the internal layer of an artery separates from the What she realized as she was going who need it,” McComsey says of the AHA’s
outer wall, creating a fissure where blood clots through her training is that the concepts she recognition. “I can help inspire other people to
can form and potentially block blood flow. In the was learning there actually translated well to get out there and be supportive and make sure
five months that followed, she also went through what her legal clients go through, including the that people who are diagnosed are getting the
a carotid artery dissection, which is a tear in the concept of disenfranchised grief. Many of us appropriate support. I’m thrilled to be recog-
inner layer of the wall of a carotid artery that who have gone through a trauma or big life nized for the actions that I’ve taken.”
causes bleeding into the artery wall. change may not connect that particular event McComsey also shares this invaluable piece
“Beyond the heart attack, I had a pretty with a feeling of grief, but McComsey points of advice that all of us – not just heart attack
scary road, so it wasn’t just the one event,” out that as someone is going through the grief survivors – should embrace:
confirms McComsey. “It was the event, the process, they often don’t realize it. “We all have inherent insecurities and
diagnosis, the second opinion and then the “It never occurred to me that that’s the pro- things we wish we could do better, or things
coratid dissection. You can imagine that having cess that I went through when I had my heart that make us nervous. I feel like when you
these two events just months apart leads you to event. It never occurred to me that that’s what have to face death, you have to look it in
wonder what’s going to happen next. It took me my clients are going through. I experienced a the eye and realize you’re here for a limited
a year before I really thought, ‘Alright, I’m okay’.” loss associated with my ability to take my health amount of time. When you take that into
McComsey now refers to her life since that for granted,” she says. “That was helpful for perspective, it kind of makes your little fears
time as a ‘journey’ – and it’s one that has led her me to counsel my clients because they may not seem so insignificant. I really believe that as
to several different areas of advocacy. Through recognize that they’re grieving.” much as this is a horrible thing to go through,
her tireless work to support other SCAD sur- Another organization that McComsey ac- it has enriched my life in so many ways that I
vivors and raise awareness, she was nominated tively works with – this time in a board member never would have expected – and the most
to be named the 2019 “Woman of Heart” in capacity – is SCAD Research, which is a national significant way is that I’m not as afraid to go
conjunction with the American Heart Associa- nonprofit that raises money for the Mayo Clinic’s outside of my comfort zone and do things
tion’s Go Red for Women movement. She will SCAD Research Program. The program takes a that a few years ago, before this happened,
be honored at the AHA’s annual luncheon on novel approach to patient-initiated rare disease seemed terrifying. We all only get just one life
May 10. research and utilizes registries, a comprehensive to live.”