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Health & Fitness

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day/Listen to Your Mother Show Saint Louis

Nothing changed my life more than the birth of my three children, Heather, Eric and Alex. Motherhood brought forth many emotions including love, joy, pride as well as worry, tears and guilt. Insomnia and responsibility also came with the package. Being a parent is for life, and, in my case almost death.

 

On April 27, 2008, instead of celebrating my daughter's 27th birthday with a family party that I promised, she watched as I laid on the hospital gurney and almost lost my life. Birthday mornings generally begin with the traditional Happy Birthday song, but on that morning it started with my cry for help. I was weak, sweaty and very purple. I was rushed to the hospital and within minutes of arriving, I went into cardiac arrest. Technically I was dead. My daughter and husband both witnessed the commotion of hospital staff cutting off my clothes, using compression, paddles, C.P.R and injecting my heart with epinephrine to resuscitate me as I laid on the table motionless and purple. I listened to my daughter cry and my husband pray as I went in and out of consciousness. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around them and assure them that everything would be alright. No matter how hard I tried, words would not come and I couldn't move. My next memory was hearing a voice say, “Mrs. Abramson, we are going to do a lot of things very fast.” Staff along with my family were running and talking feverishly next to my gurney until we arrived to the procedure room. I could hear someone in a fast and frantic pace praying beside me. I was confused, scared and in shock but I still managed to see my son Eric's frightened face and red eyes. I just kept thinking, I was too young to die at 51. My family needed me.

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Obviously, the day ended well as I survived. And here I am in front of all you today. My daughter claimed that all she ever wanted for her birthday was to have me, her mother, in her life. It has been five birthdays since that horrific day, and when she hints at what she wants for her birthday, I always remind her of the words she spoke to me in 2008.

 

It may not surprise you that my children use words like obnoxious, annoying and embarrassing to describe me. I learned that although my children say differently, they really love me and want me in their life. I know this because my daughter never left my side while I was critical and in intensive care. My youngest son Alex drove home in the midst of college finals to be with me. And my son Eric wrote to me, “I will never forget the morning when I almost lost the most important woman in my life.”

 

When it comes down to it, I bet your children feel the same way. Moms really matter in our children's lives.

 

Sometimes I think, what if I was not so lucky? If I had not survived, I would have never met my son-in-law Alan or his family which I call my own. I would have never Lived To Dance at my children's wedding. I would not known that my son Eric was accepted into law school, graduated in the top ten percent of his class and passed both the Missouri and Illinois bar exams. I would not have seen my youngest son Alex flourish in the business world. I would have never realized the joy of being an empty nester. Finally, I would have not met my beautiful grandchildren Leo Marcos and Raquel Eloise, who are the loves of my life. Nothing gives me more pleasure than my new twin grandbabies—I have photos of them all over facebook to prove it!

 

Indeed, I am one lucky lady and because of my good fortune, I have been on a mission. That mission is to educate women on awareness and prevention of heart disease—the #1 killer of women.

 

I never thought that my life could end so quickly as an early age. Heart disease is not something that happens to everyone else. It can happen to you, too. So what have I learned through my experience? I have learned what your children really want for their birthdays, graduations, weddings and Mother's Day is to spend these special moments with you. 

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