Mark Christofferson pulled up to the hospital, jumped out of the car and raced inside for help. "My wife doesn't feel good," he told the nurses. "I have no idea what's going on, but I think it might be a heart attack.
" A few hours before, Marcie Westwater had gone to fetch the mail at the Phoenix office she shared with her husband. Having gone on a strenuous hike the day before, going down four flights of stairs, then back up, should've been a breeze. But this left her feeling pressure and hot and cold sensations in her chest.
Westwater had never had COVID-19; is this what it feels like, she wondered. She hoped a nap would help. Christofferson was driving her home when she realized something far more serious was happening and told him to take her to the hospital.
He made the 2.5-mile drive as fast as possible. And now, hospital staff were following him back out to the car.
Westwater was unresponsive in the back seat. Caregivers placed her on a stretcher and started chest compressions while she was still in the parking lot. Once she was in the hospital, doctors shocked her with a defibrillator three times to restore her normal heart rhythm.
The cardiologist wanted as much information from Christofferson as possible to make a diagnosis: Had Westwater been drinking, smoking, using drugs? No, no and no. Westwater spent her free time hiking and doing yoga. She was a healthy, active 53-year-old woman.
Westwater was diagnosed with spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, a t.
