When Stefani Anderson went out to dinner with a potential new partner, she never expected her heart to literally explode.
The 39-year-old met a man she was seeing at The Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah, when she began experiencing severe pain in her jaw.
She initially brushed it off, but as the pair waited for their food to arrive, the pain began spreading to her collarbone and getting worse by the minute.
The mother-of-three writhed in pain as her date called emergency services for help.
Paramedics rushed her to hospital, where doctors discovered the heart’s largest artery had ruptured, stopping blood from pumping through her body.
She was rushed in for open-heart surgery, where doctors removed part of the damaged blood vessel and replaced it with a synthetic tube.
Ms Anderson said she couldn’t believe how her date unfolded, saying the first moment she realized something was wrong was when she was sitting at the table and “started having really bad jaw pain and it was really hard to to swallow’.
She continued: ‘It was mainly pain in my jaw and collarbone area. I had ordered a Coke and had just taken three sips, and the jaw pain had just become very severe.
When Stefani Anderson went out to dinner, she never expected her heart to literally explode, making it a life or death situation.
Mrs Anderson was told about the aneurysm in her heart a decade earlier, but doctors checked it regularly
‘I didn’t know what was causing the pain. Within minutes the pain went from mild jaw pain to very intense. I thought it might be a lockjaw or something, but then I started having pain in my collarbone.”
Mrs Anderson was told about the aneurysm in her heart a decade earlier, but doctors checked it regularly.
A thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) – which affects 15,000 people in the US every year – is a bulge in the upper part of the body’s largest artery, known as the aorta.
The most common cause of a thoracic aortic aneurysm is hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
This condition is more common in people who have high cholesterol, long-term high blood pressure or who smoke.
Most thoracic aortic aneurysms grow slowly and do not cause noticeable symptoms until they become large or rupture, making routine screening important for individuals at high risk.
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They can be detected through imaging tests such as CT scans, MRIs, or ultrasounds of the heart.
If they rupture, it can cause severe pain, internal bleeding, a sudden drop in blood pressure and death if not treated immediately.
Patients experience sudden pain in the upper back that spreads downward, pain in the chest, jaw, neck or arms and difficulty breathing.
Ms Anderson, who works for an aesthetics company that produces laser products, was actually due to undergo pre-planned surgery on her heart just nine days after her aneurysm ruptured.
The survival rate for a ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm is extremely low – just 3 percent – but Mrs Anderson defied the odds and feels ‘lucky to be alive’ after successful surgery to repair the artery.
Reflecting on the turn of events, she said: ‘I didn’t think it was my aneurysm because I didn’t have any of the symptoms they warned me about.
‘I was always told that if it ever ruptured I would get really bad headaches and chest pain, but I didn’t experience any of that.
I’m told that 3 percent of people make it in this situation.
“I remember my mom taking my kids to the hospital, so I told them everything was going to be okay and that I didn’t have time to focus on how scary it really was.
‘I had had ten years to investigate what this was and I knew my chances were not good. The whole time I thought I was going to die and this was my last night.
“I never thought it would rupture, and even when it did I thought, no, this can’t be happening, I’m having surgery in ten days.”
Above, an X-ray showing where surgeons inserted an artificial tube, called a graft, to replace the weak section of Ms Anderson’s aorta
The open chest surgery Ms Anderson underwent removed part of the aorta that had been damaged by the aneurysm
Mrs Anderson was rushed to hospital where she was told her aortic aneurysm had ruptured and the blood supply from her ear to her ankle had been cut off.
Emergency open-heart surgery was immediately performed to repair the ascending aorta.
Ms Anderson remained in hospital for 11 days and will need further surgery in the future to repair her descending aorta, which carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the chest and abdomen.
This surgery will be similar to the procedure she recently underwent.
Ms Anderson is now back at home recovering, with some side effects from her surgery including pain and discomfort, swelling around the wound, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
Ms Anderson said her near-death experience changed her outlook on life after surviving all the odds.
She mused: ‘I live in fear that this could happen again. I have been hospitalized twice since the surgery due to the symptoms of my healing.
‘A strange feeling, I’m just going back to the hospital now.
‘I don’t think anyone thought I was at risk of the aneurysm rupturing. I feel so grateful to be alive. This is like a second chance at life.
‘Everyone says I’m a walking miracle. My cardiologist said, “Congratulations on living,” because I shouldn’t be here. It has given me a different view on life.’