等待起飞时，她的心跳停止了. 空乘人员前来救援.

Vonnie Gaither hated leaving a reunion of extended family in Baltimore. Still, she had to tear herself away to start the trek back home to Anchorage, Alaska.

她从巴尔的摩飞往盐湖城的航班平安无事. 登上飞往安克雷奇的飞机后, 她系好安全带，给朋友打了个电话，告诉她自己已经在路上了.

然后她瘫倒在地. A pair of flight attendants walking down the aisle to check that passengers were wearing their seat belts found her. 她没有反应，没有脉搏.

一位名叫詹姆斯·哈奇森的医护人员为他做了心肺复苏. 另一人去取自动体外除颤器. The AED sends an electric pulse or shock to the heart to restore a normal heart rhythm.

飞机上的震动没能产生持续的节奏. 盖瑟被带离飞机, 向机场内的救援人员走去, 当她在走廊上被第二次摇晃时. Her heart required a third jolt in the ambulance on the way to a hospital in Salt Lake City.

与此同时, 盖瑟的成年女儿, Toi Gaither注册, 住在安克雷奇她母亲附近的人, got a call from one of her mother's friends who told her what had happened.

register订了第一张去盐湖城的机票. She was headed to the Anchorage airport when she tracked down a doctor who could explain what happened.

她的妈妈心脏病发作，随后心脏骤停. 这两个术语经常被错误地互换使用. A heart attack is essentially a plumbing problem; cardiac arrest is an electrical problem.

The heart attack was caused by a 90% blockage that had required three stents.

Registe在飞机上的时候, she overheard flight attendants talking about someone who'd needed 心肺复苏 on the last flight. 她看得出来，他们都吓坏了. Then it hit her: She was on the return trip of the plane her mother had been on.

“你们说的是我母亲，”她告诉他们.

当飞机降落时, the crew requested that passengers stay in their seats to allow Registe to exit first. 他们想让她尽快去医院.

When Gaither woke up from an induced coma the next day, she thought she had died. 连同注册, 其他几个家庭成员已经飞往盐湖城, 包括她的儿子, 他住在俄亥俄州. 她的前夫，孩子们的父亲，从拉斯维加斯开车过来.

"I looked up and saw all these people in my life lined up against the wall," Gaither recalled. “这是最奇怪的感觉."

第二天, Hutchison – one of the flight attendants who helped save her life – came to see how she was doing. Registe给了他一个大大的拥抱.

盖瑟不到一周就出院了, just in time for Registe to throw her a subdued but welcome "55 and Alive" birthday party.

2007年的那个夏天，盖瑟开始认真考虑改善自己的健康状况.

"Heart disease runs in my family, but I never gave it a lot of thought," she said. "It's one of those things where you don't think it's going to happen to you."

Registe, who is a fitness coach, cheered her mother on as she went to cardiac rehabilitation. 两人还一起散步，一起在家锻炼. Between exercising and eating healthier meals, Gaither lost about 20 pounds.

唉，事实证明，饮食和锻炼都无法与她的家族史相提并论.

12月,, doctors found a buildup of plaque around her arteries because of scar tissue from one of the stents. She needed triple bypass surgery to redirect blood around the compromised arteries in the heart.

Now, 15 years later, Gaither is a decade into retirement from being a school career counselor. 她把大部分沙巴足球体育平台花在抽象绘画上. She's working on a large decorative panel for a neighborhood recreation center in Anchorage.

“绘画是我的一种疗法，”她说.

她和和记黄埔一直保持着联系. Every year around her birthday, she thanks him for enabling her to celebrate that milestone.

和记黄埔现在也退休了. 经过42年的飞行生涯，他住在犹他州的奥格登. 他说，帮助盖瑟是他职业生涯的亮点之一.

“我自己也做过心脏搭桥手术, 这是另一个化学键的问题,和记黄埔说. With a laugh, he added, "I'm a mess, but thank God I was able to help Vonnie."

Gaither takes medication to keep her cholesterol and blood pressure down, as well as blood thinners. 她每六个月去看一次心脏病专家. 她最近得知自己又患上了早期的阻塞.

She acknowledges she's struggled to sustain the healthier lifestyle she adopted following her heart attack. 她不再吃更健康的食物，也不那么活跃了, 减掉的体重又回来了.

“我知道我需要更多的锻炼，”盖瑟说. "It's hard to stay motivated, but my two grandsons give me a good reason."

现在，在大流行期间，旅行再次增加, Gaither希望能拜访更多的朋友和家人, including those grandsons; they're Registe's boys, 他们一家住在拉斯维加斯.

每当盖瑟旅行, she'll continue the game plan she's followed ever since her heart attack and cardiac arrest. 她会避开盐湖城的.

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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