Living Courageously and Parenting with a Chronic Illness

Host Annette Hines starts the podcast honoring Holy Week and the celebration of Easter and Christ’s resurrection. During the interview, she speaks with Wellness and Small Business Coach Sudi Barre who shares her experience of being diagnosed with Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) and suffering a massive heart attack and open heart surgery immediately after delivering her child. Essentially a tear formed in a blood vessel in her heart that compromised its ability to circulate blood. While still in the hospital after her delivery, Sudi had an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) surgically implanted to help the left ventricle (main pumping chamber of the heart) pump blood to the rest of her body. She’s experienced many difficulties with the LVAD which would run low on batteries and cause her to have strokes. When she returned home with her new baby, she had to adapt to life as a new parent with the LVAD and her heart condition that required a complete overhaul of her regular activities and diet. Through living courageously with a chronic illness, Sudi has become an expert in barriers to access to health care for minorities, a woman with lived experience, an advocate for sex and gender equity in care, a speaker, and a blogger. Being a parent can be challenging at the best of times, but when you add the complexity of managing a chronic illness, it can feel overwhelming.

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