This week is a very special but also very emotional and trying week for me personally. So, I decided to bring a couple of sister warriors on the show with me and it is going to be very therapeutic for me and very educational for you. Five years ago, on September 23 2015, I had life-saving and life-changing surgery for an aortic dissection and aortic aneurysm. At the time it was diagnosed I had no clue what that meant, five years and four surgeries later, I have a much better idea, but I’m still learning something each day. But the biggest thing I know is that I’m very thankful to the doctors and nurses at the University of Virginia Health Services that brought me through. And that was no small challenge. Statistically only about 3% of people with this condition survive and my odds were worse because of my condition when I got to the ER. Two other women who had dissections are also on the call with me and they will share their stories and we’ll share information about the condition, what you should look out for, how to know if this is something you may need to be checked for, and we’ll also talk about invisible disabilities. That’s something that I didn’t understand at all until I had to live with one. Lots of interesting information and we’re going to be very open about what we’re living with and how it affects our lives. I’ll also share some resources below for more information. If the condition sounds familiar – I talk about it on the show occasionally, it’s the condition John Ritter and Alan Thicke died from unexpected. We hope to share information and clear up misunderstandings and misconceptions for you. If you have questions, please share them below, contact me or contact the Aortic Hope social media sites. We all want to help 🙂