Henrissa Summers woke up one morning in 2014 with both a sense of numbness and tingling in her left shoulder and arm.
At the time Summers worked as a surgical technologist at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Philadelphia.
Her physician confirmed those as symptoms of a mini-stroke. Summers, who has a history of anemia, took a stress test and 15 minutes later, “I’m hugging the treadmill, get me out of here – can’t breathe,” recalled Summers, who now works at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital.
She was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenic purpura, or ITP, a rare autoimmune disorder that causes low platelet levels.
Summers, who is sharing her story because February is American Heart Month, made a point of embracing a low-sodium, low potassium diet, and makes sure she drinks enough water – in part to reduce the number of medications to combat ITP, which in her case is a genetic condition traced back to her great-great grandparents on her father’s side.
“If I don’t walk I start getting headaches, and if I don’t drink enough water I start getting seizures,” Summers said. “I just leveled up my water and started walking diligently – I started with 50 steps.”