NEW YORK — February is American Heart Month. The American Heart Association says heart disease has now been the leading cause of death in the U.S. for a century.
To raise awareness about the warning signs, a Jersey City man who survived two heart attacks spoke with CBS New York.
As one of nine siblings with no genetic predisposition, Carlos Mercado did not expect a walk on the treadmill would lead to emergency open heart surgery back in 2010, when he was 42.
“I would feel my heart almost exaggerated the pumping. I started feeling pressure on my chest,” Mercado said.
He called an 911 and later underwent triple-bypass surgery.
“It was complicated, stressful. The recovery was hard. You saw a change in my mood,” Mercado said.
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Fast forward to 2022. He said the pandemic created stress and unhealthy eating. Once restrictions lifted, he returned to the gym.