Sherri Gilbert felt — off.
It was February of 2023. She was more tired than usual and found herself out of breath walking up the two flights of stairs to her West Palm Beach apartment.
“I was feeling that a little bit more than usual,” she said.
During an August trip to Colorado to visit family, Gilbert became winded walking through the airport. That had never happened to her before.
Trying to figure out why she felt off would lead Gilbert, executive director of the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews, on a months-long effort to find an answer — that ultimately resulted in her having open-heart surgery.
“I had always asked my doctors for decades why we don’t screen for heart issues,” the 71-year-old Gilbert said, pointing to routine screenings for cancer including mammograms and colonoscopies. “That didn’t really make sense to me.”
Gilbert’s message to those who may be concerned about their health: If you feel like something is off, keep talking to your doctors.
“I wasn’t looking for problems,” she said. “I was looking for peace of mind.”