When Stefani Anderson went on a dinner date with a potential new partner, she never expected her heart to literally explode.
The 39-year-old woman ran into a man she was dating at The Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah, when she began experiencing severe pain in her jaw.
At first she didn’t think anything of it, but as the couple waited for the food to arrive, the pain began to spread to her collarbone and worsened by the minute.
The mother-of-three was writhing in pain as her date called emergency services for help.
Paramedics rushed her to the hospital, where doctors discovered that the largest artery in her heart had ruptured, causing blood to stop pumping through her body.
She was rushed for emergency open heart surgery, in which doctors removed part of the damaged blood vessel and replaced it with a synthetic tube.
Anderson said she couldn’t believe how her appointment went and said the first moment she realized something was wrong was when she was sitting at the table and started experiencing “really bad pain in her jaw and it was very difficult to swallow”.
She continued: ‘It was mainly pain in my jaw and collarbone. I ordered a Coke and only had three sips, and the jaw pain had gotten really bad.
When Stefani Anderson went to dinner, she never expected that her heart would literally explode, making it a life or death situation.
Ms Anderson was told about the aneurysm in her heart 10 years earlier, but doctors monitored it regularly.
“I didn’t know what was causing the pain. In a matter of minutes, it went from mild pain in my jaw to really intense pain. I thought it might be a jaw lock or something, but then my collarbone hurt.
Ms Anderson was told about the aneurysm in her heart 10 years earlier, but doctors monitored it regularly.
A thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA), which affects 15,000 people in the U.S. each year, is a bulge at the top of the body’s largest artery, known as the aorta.
The most common cause of a thoracic aortic aneurysm is hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
This condition is more common in people with high cholesterol, long-term high blood pressure, or who smoke.
Most thoracic aortic aneurysms grow slowly and do not cause noticeable symptoms until they grow or rupture, making routine screening important for high-risk people.
They can be detected by imaging tests such as CT scans, MRIs or ultrasounds of the heart.
If they rupture, it can cause severe pain, internal bleeding, a sudden drop in blood pressure, and death if not treated immediately.
Patients experience sudden pain in the upper back that spreads downward, pain in the chest, jaw, neck or arms, and difficulty breathing.
Ms Anderson, who works for a beauty company that produces laser products, was due to undergo pre-planned heart surgery just nine days after her aneurysm ruptured.
The survival rate for a burst thoracic aortic aneurysm is extremely low – just 3 per cent – but Mrs Anderson defied the odds and feels “lucky to be alive” after a successful operation to repair the artery.
Reflecting on the turn of events, he said: “I didn’t think it was my aneurysm because I didn’t have any of the symptoms I had been warned about.”
“I was always told that if it ever broke, I would experience a really bad headache and chest pain, but I didn’t experience any of that.
I’m told that 3 percent of people manage to survive in this situation.
‘I remember my mother taking my children to the hospital and telling them it was going to be okay and I didn’t have time to focus on how scary it really was.
‘I had had 10 years to research what this was and I knew my chances weren’t great. The whole time I was thinking I was going to die and this was my last night.
“I never thought it was going to break, and even when it did, I thought no, this can’t be happening, I’m having surgery in 10 days.”
Above, an x-ray showing where surgeons inserted an artificial tube, called a graft, to replace the weak section of Ms. Anderson’s aorta.
The open chest surgery Ms Anderson received involved removing part of the aorta damaged by the aneurysm.
Ms Anderson was rushed to hospital, where she was told her aortic aneurysm had ruptured and her blood supply from her ear to her ankle had been cut off.
Emergency open-heart surgery was immediately performed to repair the ascending aorta.
Anderson remained in the hospital for 11 days and will need another surgery in the future to repair his descending aorta, which carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the chest and abdomen.
This surgery will be similar to the procedure you recently had.
Mrs Anderson is now back home recovering, with some of the side effects of her surgery including pain and discomfort, swelling around the wound, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
Anderson said his near-death experience has changed his perspective on life after surviving hardships.
She reflected: ‘I live in fear that this could happen again. I have been hospitalized twice since surgery due to symptoms in my healing.
‘Any strange feelings, I’m just going back to the hospital now.
“I don’t think anyone thought I was at risk of the aneurysm rupturing. I feel very grateful to be alive. This is like a second chance at life.
‘Everyone says I’m a walking miracle. My cardiologist told me “congratulations for being alive” because I shouldn’t be here. It’s given me a different perspective on life.’