I started having indigestion late one afternoon while meeting with clients. As I sat listening to the auctioneer present my clients with various alternatives to selling their home, the pain intensified. I told my client, who happened to be a doctor, about my symptom and he explained that it may be a gall bladder issue since I had no other symptoms of a heart attack. He advised me to go straight to the ER – just in case.  

For two years, I played a dangerous game with my heart. I kept experiencing a racing heart and shortness of breath episodes that lasted a few minutes at a time. As a volunteer for the American Heart Association, I am sharing my story with others – especially women because, like me, we have a tendency to ignore the signs and symptoms of heart disease – so that other lives can be saved.

Roxy Burnside knows firsthand how immediate bystander CPR and AED’s accessible in public places can save lives.  It saved hers. Roxy’s survival story from a heart attack began the evening of November 20 in Fargo at the Holiday Lights parade.    Burnside was dressed in an elf costume, handing out candy and walking with co-workers alongside her company’s float.