Daytime icon Susan Lucci, who is world-renowned for her portrayal of Erica Kane on All My Children, recently had a big health scare. As longtime fans know, this was not the first time this happened to the beloved star.
A Matter of the Heart For Susan Lucci
The Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress recently appeared on Good Morning America and informed Amy Robach that she underwent an emergency heart procedure for the second time in her life recently.
Lucci explained how she was having shortness of breath and feeling some discomfort around her ribcage and her back, and these are feelings she knew well having experienced them three years ago when she had her first bout of heart problems.
“I thought, ‘This is crazy. These are the same kind of symptoms that I had three years ago but it can’t be,’” she said. “But when I lay down, I started to feel a sharp coming-and-going pain in my jaw.”
The 75-year-old quickly called her doctor who wisely told her to get to the ER, stat. While there, Lucci learned she had an 80% blockage in one of her arteries due to plaque buildup and was rushed to a cardiac catheterization lab, where doctors placed a stent to open up the blockage.
Dr. Richard Shlofmitz, chairman of cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, NY, also appeared on the program and described the scene.
“She wasn’t having a heart attack this time and she wasn’t unstable,” he said. “But she had symptoms that were certainly concerning to me that something might be wrong.”
And the doctor offered a warning to others who may experience what Susan Lucci did, noting that if she hadn’t called the doctor and waited it out, it could have turned into a major emergency.
Knowing the danger that heart problems can cause, Lucci is an advocate for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign and is urging women to take warning signs seriously.
“Listen to your heart and act on [the symptoms],” she said. “Give yourself permission to take good care of yourself. Be your own best friend. Be your own advocate. You’ll save your life.”
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