Tribute to My Wife

[Mr C]

The women's heart health podcast in honor of my wife has been launched on iTunes. It has been a long challenging journey that I couldn't have pulled together without all of the great support and feedback on grieving from this young widow community. There were times when the grief was so overwhelming that I wasn't sure I could put forth the effort needed. I learned to be gentle and yield to the grief as it came. I took things one little step at a time and measured accomplishments weekly instead of daily. I am hoping that the awareness from this show will one day save a life and spare their spouse from having to join this club that no one wants to be a part of.

 

I would like to share with you our family's story which I posted on facebook yesterday:

 

Our heart journey began on this day four years ago. It was the middle of the day when Cesily came crawling up the stairs holding her head and chest. Fortunately, our kids were home sick that day and helped call 911. She was having an aortic dissection that ended up requiring an 8-hour emergent open-heart surgery. For the next two years we celebrated May 17th as Cesily?s ?Re-birthday?, for she had survived what is often not survivable. I still look at this day with gratitude for the three precious bonus years that we got with Cesily.

 

Like many women, Cesily had never thought about the risks of heart disease. After her incident she found information from the American Heart Association on how to live a healthier lifestyle. She also discovered how prevalent heart disease was in women and that it could strike at any age. Cesily became an ambassador for AHA?s Go Red for Women initiative and was passionate about spreading awareness to other women to ?put their heart health first.?

 

My gift to my wife, and the community at large, is the It?s Your Heart podcast, where we will be interviewing survivors, health experts and others to share their stories and tips on how to live a healthier lifestyle. I am grateful to Cesily?s mother, Deloria, for joining me on this project as the show?s host and to the countless friends and family members who have given us their support and talents to make this show a reality. Together we get to carry on Cesily?s legacy of spreading heart health awareness to women.

 

Thanks for your support,

Jerald

 

Check out the show on iTunes at: http://apple.co/1S2DHEX

See our website at http://itsyourheart.org

[lcoxwell]

What a wonderful legacy for your wife, reaching out and trying to help others. I hope this podcast touches many lives, in you wife's honor.

[Guest look2thesky]

She looked an amazing beautiful woman.

[widowat33]

What a beautiful tribute to your wife!

What a great way to raise awareness and as you said, maybe prevent someone else from having to join us here.