她在爱尔兰时主动脉破裂. 她把她的戏剧变成了歌舞表演.

When Shana Pennington-Baird signed up for a summer conference in 爱尔兰 to enrich her voice acting career, 她很高兴能增加一些家庭度假沙巴足球体育平台. 她丈夫一直想去乡下看看, 还有他们的女儿, 然后8, 到了可以欣赏风景的年龄了吗.

在他们离开前几周, Pennington-Baird experienced a tiny popping sensation in her chest while walking. 那天晚上，她感觉胃灼热到下颚. 第二天她就好了, 但灼烧感又回来了几次, 然后完全消失了. 虽然她从来没有胃灼热过, 当时45岁的他认为这可能是年龄增长的结果.

在冰岛旅行了两周之后, 苏格兰和爱尔兰, 彭宁顿-贝尔德的家人回到了他们在西雅图的家, while she hit the road for a couple days before the start of the conference. As a former touring musical theater performer, Pennington-Baird was comfortable with solo adventures. 第一天，她在北爱尔兰徒步了8英里. Then she was off to the remote Dingle Peninsula on the western coast for more sightseeing.

As she pulled into the driveway of her vacation rental, everything went gray. 她开始大汗淋漓，这是她从未经历过的. 她知道自己需要帮助. After looking up what emergency number to dial (999), she called an ambulance.

医院离这里有90分钟的曲折路程. 彭宁顿-贝尔德通过讲笑话尽可能保持积极的情绪. Once there, it took doctors several hours and a CT scan to find the problem.

彭宁顿-贝尔德经历了主动脉夹层, a life-threatening condition where the wall of the aorta – the main artery carrying blood away from the heart – tears. She needed open-heart surgery, and it would have to be done at a better-equipped hospital.

又坐了90分钟的救护车把她送到科克的一家医院. As caregivers prepped her for surgery, she said: "Can you be crazy careful with the breathing tube? 我是一名歌手和声优. 我需要我的声音."

第二天醒来时，她身体虚弱，疼痛难忍. Her heart was functioning properly again, thanks to a heart valve replacement. 而且，她的声音完好无损.

She also learned that recovery from the surgery would keep her in 爱尔兰 for several weeks.

“每个人都告诉我，我能活下来是幸运的, 但没有人真正告诉我事情的严重性,她说. “但他们确实给我带来了很多上好的爱尔兰茶."

她的丈夫回来了10天，但他必须回去工作. 所以她的母亲莎琳·彭宁顿(Sharyn彭宁顿)从西雅图飞过来帮忙. 75岁时，这是她第一次去欧洲旅行.

母女俩留在科克休养.

"I'd wake up in the middle of the night and tiptoe into her room to see if she was breathing, 就像她小时候我对她那样,彭宁顿说.

随着彭宁顿-贝尔德的痊愈, she and her mother managed to get out frequently enough that the local taxi service knew her as "the heart girl."

“我们应该玩得这么开心吗?彭宁顿问女儿.

“当然，”她回答.

手术后不到一个月，两人就飞回家了.

乐趣到此结束.

彭宁顿-贝尔德在飞行期间胸部疼痛. It turned out that she had two infected sternum wires – the wires that hold the breastbone together after surgery – and needed more surgery to repair that.

Back in Seattle, the severity of her condition came into full, anxiety-inducing view. 没有发现解剖的原因, 尽管彭宁顿-贝尔德确实有一些心脏问题的家族史.

Always a good sleeper, she was suddenly afraid to sleep, fearing she might not wake up. She was given multiple medications and could hear the clicking of her heart valve (literally, 多亏了机械阀门).

At first, her stationary bike sat dormant, because she was afraid her heart couldn't take the stress. Not wanting to give it up, she turned to a cycling coach, who helped her craft a safe workout plan. She credits cycling with helping her fight her fears and return to fitness.

几个月后, a CT scan for something unrelated revealed that Pennington-Baird had had two major asymptomatic strokes. The so-called silent strokes have no noticeable symptoms but can still damage the brain. 在她的病例中，医生告诉她，他们很惊讶地发现没有任何缺陷.

两个月后，也就是2020年1月，她在乳房上发现了一个肿块. 是癌变的. 她接受了乳房肿瘤切除术、放射治疗和更多的药物治疗.

然后是COVID-19大流行.

“刚刚经历了这么多, 我只是深吸一口气，熬过去了,彭宁顿-贝尔德说.

但她并没有闲着.

相反，她开始制作一个关于她在爱尔兰经历的节目.

Last year, Pennington-Baird debuted "Broken Wide Open" at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. 在长达一小时的节目中, 她唱了10首歌, 由凯尔特乐队伴奏, 并讲述了她的心脏沙巴体育平台点击进入从痛苦到滑稽的故事.

她说，研究、写作和表演这部剧是一种治疗.

“当你一遍又一遍地讲这个故事, 它失去了对你的力量,彭宁顿-贝尔德说, 谁正在写一本关于这段经历的书.

When she performed it in Seattle earlier this year, her mother was in the audience.

“我已经听过有声书了, 这让我在整个过程中没有坐着哭泣,彭宁顿说. “我为莎娜所做的一切感到骄傲. 她所遭受的创伤让她大开眼界，也很有教育意义. 我觉得她处理得很好. 另外，这孩子很有天赋."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.