My name is Reginald Reese and I'm an entrepreneur, writer, music producer, and designer. In 2008, I was diagnosed with a severe heart disease. In this blog post series, I will talk about what life was like before the big recovery and the lessons I learned dealing with depression after surviving heart disease.
It's Saturday, June 18, 2022, just another day of the week I figured until realizing the energy of the morning that brought mental clarity accompanied with the quietness and the soothing breeze blowing the weltered leaves across my patio. After watching the evening news of a story where a 23-year-old young woman died of a heart attack the night before, got me reminiscing about my battle with cardiovascular disease. At just 28 years old, I too suffered from a heart attack at such a young age. At the time I could not fathom the thought of having issues with my body, let alone my heart. I was fit, worked out daily and even taught others how to live healthier lives through exercise for many years. How could this be happening to me; I considered myself an ex-college athlete who was used to pushing my body to perform better but was ambushed out of nowhere with 90 percent blockage in my left anterior descending artery (LAD). Commonly known as "the widow-maker" artery because of how closely death usually followed. According to WebMD, it's a major pipeline for blood. If blood gets 100% blocked, it’s almost always fatal without emergency care.
During this time, I felt different emotions such as being grateful, happy to still be alive for my family to being depressed. Mayo Clinic defined depression as a mood disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, irritability, and loss of interest. It affects how you feel, think, and behave. I no longer wanted to do things I enjoyed with others, I didn't want to talk to anyone because I felt that they would not understand what I was going through, so I instead distanced myself from friends and family.
To continue reading how I dealt with and found myself again, checkout Part 2: Dealing with Depression After Surviving Heart Disease