His grandfather and mother died of the same heart disease he has

After a busy day, Jimmy Flemgen hurried up the stairs to his apartment. His hand tremor was so great that he had a hard time getting the key in the lock.

Once inside, his heart He couldn’t count the beats. And as a person born with Heart problems-And with a device on his chest that was supposed to regulate his heart rate-he certainly tried to count.

Fearing to faint, Jimmy jumped off the sofa and opened the front door. At that time, the device broke.

“I felt like I was hit by a bus,” he said.

I remember Jimmy lying on the ground, crying for help, and begging his neighbors to stay up until the ambulance arrived. Data from his device shows that his heart was beating 233 times a minute.Ah Resting heart rate Usually 60 to 100 beats per minute.

This was the first time Jimmy’s device worked, but he has spent much of his life preparing it.

Jimmy was in his early twenties and was already using a second implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). He needed it because he was born in a state called. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathyThis is a form of heart failure characterized by a problem with the heart pumping blood to other parts of the body. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is most often a hereditary disorder that Jimmy is familiar with.

His mother’s father survived several cardiac arrests before he died of heart failure at the age of 58. Jimmy, who was two at the time, sat on his grandfather’s lap and blew a match on the pipe. I remember. Jimmy’s first memory.

So did his mom.The family lived very afraid of her entering Cardiac arrest Jimmy, the eldest son of three siblings, studied cardiopulmonary resuscitation in fifth grade. She dies of heart failure at the age of 45. Jimmy was 19 years old.

“We were built not only because we are mothers and sons, but because we speak the same language about the same kind of experiences we have with our bodies,” he said.

Jimmy was forced to grow fast. He went to college and said, “You probably won’t have the long life that most Americans expect. It won’t weigh you heavily.”

Determined to live an inevitable life, Jimmy taught high school history and politics in his hometown of Santa Rosa, California.

In 2011, he moved to Washington, DC, but arrived in the middle of the year and was unable to find a job as a teacher and became a member of the House of Representatives, Doris O. Matsui (D-Sacramento). He then served as Senior Policy Advisor to Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (Democratic Party of Baltimore).

In 2016 Jimmy returned to California. After working as a senior aide to the state legislature for two years, he set up a boutique political consulting firm in Sacramento.

Like any proud father, Jim Flemgen marvels at what his son has accomplished. But he also understands the additional challenges. “His condition does not prevent him from giving joy.”

But Jimmy, who recently turned 33, doesn’t imply how tough it is. He attributed the chronic anxiety of him and his mother to their heart condition. When he was young, he was afraid that every time the phone rang, it was bad news about her. And when he feels his heart pounding abnormally, he’s worried that his device is about to shock.

“These aren’t at the forefront of your mind, but when they emerge, they become very realistic and concrete,” he said. “We’re struggling. I think there are too many temptations to be quiet about things, which leads to many situations where people don’t get the help they need. “

Jimmy has seen a therapist talking about these feelings. We also practice mindfulness and breathing exercises.

At the age of 20, he was a volunteer at the American Heart Association, paying homage to his mother’s memory and speaking at the Go Red for Women event. His family is also a sponsor of the Kathleen L. Flemgen Memorial Nursing Scholarship (named after his mother), helping students return to college after becoming a mother.

He is also looking at political solutions and raising awareness through social media accounts. He is particularly interested in the plight of millions of children who live with chronically ill parents like him.

“I don’t think we can fully support families who are fighting the reality of heart disease,” he said. “Life that can be saved by changing Health policy create health care More accessible, especially Low income Minority communities that may be unaware that there are significant risk factors. We should make something better, and the only way to make it better is to get involved. ”

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