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Some friendships are formed in the most unexpected ways. Unexpected is how Saint Luke's nurse practitioner, Layne Strookman and Saint Luke's ICU nurse, Molly Young met.
"Shes the sister I never had, never knew I needed," Young said. "The memories that we made here, I'm sure she would love to never remember, but I will never forget."
That friendship, those memories for Strookman and Young, began inside Saint Luke's ICU, when Strookman suffered a heart attack caused by a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, also known as SCAD.
"I'm a nurse practitioner, I've worked in cardiology , I know all the signs and symptoms," Strookman said. "And I still didn't believe that I was having a heart attack because I'm young, I'm healthy, right?"
Strookman, the 35 year old wife, mother of three and nurse practitioner at Saint Luke's, had her first heart attack in February, six weeks post-partum with her third baby.
"I was taking my kids to school," Strookman said. "I started to become really sweaty. I had a lot of chest pressure, it was radiating down my arms, my hands went numb and I just knew something was wrong."
Her children's school nurse called 911.
"They noticed the tear in my artery, diagnosed me and they monitored me in the hospital for two days," Strookman said.
After two days in the hospital, it happened again: another heart attack.
"We went home, I was home for about 12 hours and it was the middle of the night, I was nursing my baby and the symptoms came right back," Strookman said. "It was terrifying because I knew exactly what was happening and it almost felt worse."
Strookman eventually had to have emergency triple bypass surgery and spent 12 days in the ICU where she later met Molly Young, her ICU nurse.
"She took me outside for the first time with my machines and everything," Strookman said.
"I feel like we met in a way that I never could've expected and bonded just immediately from the start," Young said. "Her and her family were somebody I knew I was going to grow close with."
From ailing to advocate, Strookman wants to make sure others are aware of the dangers of SCAD: when a tear forms in the wall of the heart artery, which can cause a heart attack.
"This is as serious as it gets with relation to coronary dissection," Layne's physican, Dr. Anna Grodzinsky said.
Dr. Grodzinsky is a cardiologist with Saint Luke's Muriel I. Kauffman Women's Heart Center. She says this is a condition that can affect younger people, specifically younger women.
"90 percent of our patients are women. Some connective tissue conditions , sometimes hormonal changes around pregnancy and post partum, sometimes stress or trigger events can be sort of a cause or a trigger for this to occur."
Strookman's biggest piece of advice: speak up if something doesn't feel right and make sure mental health is a priority.
"I did not think anything was wrong with me and I did not want to go to the hospital initially," Strookman said. "So if me talking about it can help even one woman in the future recognize symptoms to go get help and she can be there for her children growing up, that's all that matters to me."
And sometimes, out of crisis, comes unexpected community.
"She is that momma bear for those three kids and her husband and she's that rock and that's what we want to keep her being, is that rock," Young said. "But I know that what I saw was a community can be that rock whenever she can't and I'm going to be a part of it, I'm so blessed to be a part of it."
Strookman is back to work full time as a nurse practitioner. Strookman's family and Young's family plan to have Thanksgiving together this year, both saying they have a lot to be thankful for this year.
Strookman is also a part of Saint Luke's iSCAD registry. She met with Saint Luke's and a research physician from Australia to discuss SCAD research.
