Racheal Glancey never could have imagined at the age of 48 that she would come very close to death. But now the Stacy, Minn., woman is a volunteer with the American Heart Association who shared her harrowing story of finding out she had congestive heart failure.
She wants to use her experience to help others.
In February of 2018, she was on a cruise with her mom and friends and had been really sick. She kept getting bronchitis and pneumonia. It was so awful that she remembers that trip well.
"I literally didn't get off two of the ports because I thought I was going to die and I didn't want to die in another country."
When she got home, she went to the hospital and they told her the same thing, that she had pneumonia. But she knew deep down that something was wrong.
"I said no, I really feel like I'm dying. Something is really wrong."
Her condition continued to worsen and while taking her grandson to school, she got lost.
"I could not remember how to get him to school. I drove him to school every Tuesday for years. I was just completely out of it. He said 'Grandma, just follow the school bus.'"
Thankfully she made it to school safely, and again went to the hospital.
"As soon as I walked in they were like something is really wrong with you and I was like I've been telling everybody that. I was in the hospital for about a week."
During that time they continued to monitor her and look for answers. Glancey remembers how she woke from a nap not feeling well.
"I told them, you know, my heart feels funny. It feels like a fish out of water. They did an EKG and that type of stuff. Then they rushed me up to the cardiac floor and they said that I was going into cardiac arrest or having a heart attack."
Doctors determined then that she, in fact, had congestive heart failure. The reason she kept getting pneumonia is that the fluid gathered around her heart, and then into her lungs.
After her procedure and hospital stay, she was sent home with a life vest, which she says her doctor had to work hard to get the insurance company to pay for.
"Seven days later I went into cardiac arrest while I was sleeping. So if I had not had that life vest on I wouldn't be here to tell my story."
She had a heart ablation and now has a pacemaker and defibrillator. It's still hard to believe she has to deal with this health crisis at this age.
"Because I was young, in my early 40's, I didn't smoke and wasn't super overweight, I didn't have any of those signs. They kept saying 'nope, you're healthy, you're fine.' And I wasn't."
Since then, she had dedicated her life to sharing her story in the hope that other women will do more to take care of themselves, and advocate on their own behalf.
"If you know something is wrong with yourself or you don't feel good, I advocate for going to the doctor and if they won't listen, go to another doctor. Luckily I have an awesome doctor now. I go to the same hospital where they finally took me in and helped me."
She says she'll continue to share her story to try to help others.
"I've had two friends now that have had to get the life vest. I've had other people tell me your story made me go to the doctor when I normally wouldn't have.