February is American Heart Month and a local woman says she’s making the most of it.
Wendy Fleckenstein received a heart transplant in June 2021 and isn’t letting her second chance go to waste.
“Tomorrow’s not promised, so you have to take care of the time that you have here,” Fleckenstein said.
Fleckenstein is a mom, a grandma and a volunteer photographer with the Oshtemo Township Fire Department. She told News Channel 3 she started having health problems when she was 48.
Her doctors believed it was pneumonia and started her on several medicines to try to treat her symptoms. It was on her way home from the doctor’s office when she got a phone call that would change her life forever. She had congestive heart failure.
“I was floored. I’m the youngest person, I think, in my family to have a heart problem like that,” Fleckenstein said. “It was very upsetting and it just kind of flips your whole world upside down.”
Fleckenstein would go on to spend six weeks in the hospital between Easter and June 2021 and says the hardest part was getting strong enough for her new heart.
“If I had shown you a picture of the day that I went into the hospital and you saw me today you’d say ‘Wow. I can’t believe you’re here,'” Fleckenstein said. “I’m one of those people that doesn’t rush off to a doctor. I’m one of those people who says, ‘We’ll wait the weekend and see what Monday brings.’ If I had waited until Monday, I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
Getting her new heart was the first step in her recovery and Fleckenstein recalls feeling a mix of emotions when she woke up from her procedure.
“It was overwhelming to think about what was ahead,” Fleckenstein said. “A lot of work. But I had decided that I got that far. And I wasn’t going to let that donor down.”
The donor, she learned, was a 16-year-old boy.
She hasn’t met his family but she writes to them in case they’re ever ready to hear his heart live on in her. For now, Fleckenstein says she’s keeping that promise to not let him down.
“It’s a blessing to be here,” Fleckenstein said. “I was here to watch my daughter get married. I’ve been here to watch three babies be born. You can’t put a price tag on it.”
Fleckenstein has been working with the American Heart Association and says it’s not always easy but she’s making sure to get her exercise and watch what she eats, all so that she’s ready for more of life’s big moments.
“I wish that I had been in contact with the American Heart Association a lot sooner,” Fleckenstein said. “I think what they do to help further research and get the education out for there, and for people to know about different heart situations and what they can be doing, I think, is invaluable. If you put your mind in the right space and think about the things you have to live for, it makes you want to fight a little harder.”
Fleckenstein’s last heart catheter will be in June 2026. Her doctors will use a small tube to look into her heart to see how it’s doing. Fleckenstein said she’ll miss her regular doctor’s appointments and the health team who’s been on this journey with her.
“Those people who took care of me became family,” Fleckenstein said. “They’d come in and talk to me and spend time with me. To not see them as much is hard.”
The American Heart Association says heart disease is the number one killer of women in the U.S. and a lot of times symptoms will be different in men and women. They say almost 50% of women who were older than 50 had some form of heart disease between 2017 and 2020.
The American Heart Association says there are risk factors women can and can’t control.
Factors that can’t be controlled include:
- Age
- Gender
- Family History
- Race
- Previous stroke or heart attack
Factors that can be controlled include:
- High blood pressure & high cholesterol
- Smoking
- Obesity or being overweight
- Lack of exercise
- Diabetes
The American Heart Association has resources to help navigate controllable factors and more information about what women should look for throughout their lives. You can find their Go Red for Women campaign here.
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