WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - When 57-year-old fitness instructor Paula Hickle woke up in a cold sweat, unable to breathe, she knew that something had gone terribly wrong.
Hickle had taught Pilates classes for years and received constant praise from her doctors for her great physical condition.
"(My doctor) said to me, 'Paula you are so healthy. You'll never die of a heart attack or stroke,'" Hickle said.
But in the middle of the night last year, all of that changed.
"My head just exploded," she said. "It felt like fireworks went off and woke me up. I could hardly breathe and both of my arms were numb and tingly."
Hinkle said her husband rushed her to the hospital where she was told that she had had a heart attack.
While her family has a history of heart disease and she has low HDL cholesterol levels, according to Hickle, the doctors who treated her that night said they won't ever be able explain exactly why this happened to her.
Hinkle said that she thinks it was her constant exercise that kept her strong enough to survive the heart attack.
Today, she is continuing to teach Pilates classes and has begun eating better to make sure that she doesn't become a victim again.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women and Hickle said she wants to encourage women to learn everything they can to protect themselves, even if they think it can't happen to them.
BY ALLYSON BOND,
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