When her heart stopped after her dog died, doctors said it was a broken heart syndrome

Tess and Dan Kosou did everything they could to give birth to a child.

When they turned to in vitro fertilization, their first attempt seemed to work. But then Tess had a miscarriage.

“It was early in pregnancy, but it was still devastating,” she said.

While Dan was sharing her grief, she had another source of support. Ironically, Mr. Big, named 7-pound Maltese. Tess loved to play with her mom. I wore fun clothes and took me on a trip or to meet Santa Claus.

“Mr. Big had a bigger personality than life to be such a little guy, and everyone loved him,” she said. “It was a very different type of bond than I had ever had.”

At the end of last year, Mr. Big died suddenly. To Tess, it “feels like I’ve lost a baby.”

By that time, another IVF attempt had been successful. The couple had a two-year-old son, Feliz.

Shortly after her beloved dog died, Tess, Dan, and Feliz met Tess’s parents on the farm and chose a Halloween pumpkin. As they walked towards the patch, Tess felt a sharp pain in his left arm.

“I have a very high tolerance for pain, which was something I had never felt before,” she said.

Within minutes, the pain was accompanied by a strong feeling of pressure on her chest.Tess told Dan she thought she had heart attack.. He immediately called 911.

Emergency personnel took her to a hospital 20 minutes away. That night, after Dan and Feliz drove to their home in Carmel, Indiana for two hours, her chest pain returned. Then she was in cardiac arrest.

“They said I was dead,” Tess said. “my heart It stopped and no blood flowed. “

After resuscitating her, the doctor put on a ventilator and put her into a drug-induced coma. Dan was by her when Tess woke up.

“The best gift I’ve ever had was that I was told,’You’re still here,'” she said.

The doctor wasn’t sure why she was in cardiac arrest. Tess, who turns 38 in April, otherwise eats a healthy, nutritious diet and exercises regularly, Family history of heart disease..

However, when doctors learned about Mr. Big, they diagnosed Tess with broken heart syndrome. This is a temporary heart failure caused by acute stress and sadness, Broken heart syndrome..

They monitored her heart and sent her home with a wearable defibrillator to send a shock if an arrhythmia was detected. About two months later, she implanted a defibrillator in her chest.

Dr. Jeffrey R. Mosler, Indiana University Health Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist, said: “This device acts as a kind of safety net.”

Trusting the device, Tess resumed her Healthy lifestyleIncludes yoga, running, swimming and weightlifting.

She suffered from depression and anxiety while she was grateful to be alive. Despite the diagnostic and preventive devices, she was afraid that her heart would stop again.

Taking care of Feliz helped. So was the overflow of love, flowers and food from her friends and family. And she received dozens of messages from people all over the world — fans of the two children’s books she wrote about IVF.

“I felt a sense of community that I had never experienced before,” she said.

Decided to raise awareness about Heart disease, Tess is now a volunteer at the American Heart Association and has been named one of its “High Impact Women”.

“This is very close to my heart and important. I need to talk about it,” she said. “There are many stereotypes about who gets heart disease, but it can happen to anyone.”

Recently, Dan and Tess adopted a Havanese puppy, Gatsby. He soon returned home, made friends with Feliz and his family cat, and was in the office with Tess while writing his next book.

“I feel like we’re all back in the center,” she said. “I’m laughing and enjoying my life. The” Why Me “game isn’t playing anymore. ”

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