View Full Version : Rosie O'Donnell Suffers a Heart Attack


Brian Damage
08-20-2012, 04:58 PM
Calling it a "miracle" she's still alive, Rosie O'Donnell suffered a heart attack last week and is now recovering at home.

O'Donnell, 50, credited her survival to quick Internet research on her painful symptoms and a Bayer aspirin she had seen recommended in ads.

"Thank god/saved by a tv commercial/literally," she wrote Monday in her usual verse form on her blog.

O'Donnell said she had a stent inserted after doctors found that her coronary artery was 99 percent blocked. In a statement on Monday, her rep Cindi Berger tells PEOPLE, "She is now home and resting comfortably. She is very, very lucky."

"They call this type of heart attack/the Widow Maker/i am lucky to be here," she wrote.

Earlier this month, O'Donnell, 50, shared the news that her fiancée Michelle Rounds was diagnosed with desmoid tumors, a very rare affliction.

O'Donnell said her own health problems started on Aug. 14 after she helped "an enormous woman" struggling to get out of her car in a parking lot in Nyack, N.Y.

A few hours later, her chest ached, both arms felt sore as if they were bruised, she became nauseous, and had clammy skin.

"maybe this is a heart attack," she wrote. "i googled womens heart attack symptoms/i had many of them/but really? – i thought – naaaa."

She took the aspirin recommended for people who think they are suffering a heart attack but didn't call 911. She said that hundreds of thousands of women die each year of heart attacks and that many never dial the emergency number.

"by some miracle i was not one of them," she wrote, adding: "know the symptoms ladies/listen to the voice inside/the one we all so easily ignore/CALL 911/save urself."

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20622755,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+people%2Fheadlines+%28PEOPLE.com%3A+Top+Headlines%29

Janice
08-20-2012, 08:14 PM
She dodged a bullet, that's for sure. So many people are saved by taking an aspirin. We have nitroglycerin, just in case. My husband is a heart patient, so he's prescribed that. Rosie says that she lifted an enormous woman out of her car, earlier in the day. A couple of months ago, my husband helped to lift a huge neighbor, who had fallen. That resulted in a severely strained back. A physical therapist came here three days a week for over a month.

My friend's father helped a friend move a fridge when he was in his 30s. As a result, he suffered his entire life with a very bad back. He's in his 70s now, and it still hurts. Bad backs are no joke. The lesson here is to NOT lift heavy people or anything heavy, for that matter. It could have killed Rosie. It's just not worth it. Don't move furniture, anything. We're not built to do those things. I'm glad Rosie pulled through.

Family Ties Forever!
08-20-2012, 09:31 PM
I agree, it's not worth lifting or trying to movie something that weighs hundreds of pounds. The damage it can cause your back, neck, etc. isn't worth it. That's good that she's ok.

Schmoopie
08-21-2012, 01:47 AM
Wow, scary! Glad she's okay.

PZelda
08-21-2012, 09:39 PM
Yep, heart attacks are no laughing matter. A VERY long-time family friend's middle son recently suffered a heart attack scare... My parents went to high school with these friends (they were HS sweethearts) together in the 70s, and they as well as my parents each had 3 kids in the same frame in the 80s so the 6 of us grew up together for a little while. This son in particular is 30, will be 31 in a few months. It can strike anyone at any time, regardless of age or health status.

I am glad to hear that she is OK! Whew!

JamesG
08-22-2012, 07:06 PM
One of my mother's friends had a heart attack at 36 out of the blue while eating dinner at a restaurant.

She was out eating after work with a bunch of her friends and his speech started to slur and he fell forward on the table dead right there. The people who he worked with said that he showed no symptoms of any illness, didn't complain about being unwell and was going on like it was any other day.



That's scary when you think about it, to go on having a normal day and just randomly dropping dead. Doctors that I have spoken to told me that that scenario is a lot more common than people realize.

A few months ago someone younger than me had a heart attack at 22. His mother was wondering why he wasn't getting up for school and found him dead in bed; died of cardiac arrest in his sleep. As far as I know he had no prior health issues.

I'm glad Rosie is ok.

Mr. Television
08-22-2012, 07:10 PM
You just never know when your time is up. It's really scary when you think about it. My Uncle died of a heart attack when he was 50 and my Grandfather was in his 50's when he died from one. I'm close to that now.

I'm glad Rosie's okay too.