---

A local teacher, armed with scientific and leadership training from the Mayo Clinic, has a message for women in the Albany Diocese: Heart disease is just as serious for them as it is for men.

Deborah Flaherty-Kizer, a computer science teacher at St. Madeleine Sophie School in Schenectady, attended a four-day symposium at the Minnesota health center last fall. She was one of 55 women nationwide accepted by WomenHeart, the national coalition for women with heart disease, to become a "WomenHeart Champion."

WomenHeart Champions educate, support and advocate for women with and at risk of heart disease. Participants commit to 24 hours of service in their local communities within the first six months and send monthly reports to the organization.

Already, Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer spoke at a health fair at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She plans to:

• lead seminars at parish women's groups and YWCAs,

• write letters to the editor in local newspapers,

• educate EMTs and other medical professionals on how heart attack detection is unique for women and

• lobby researchers to use women in clinical trials.

Working on it
"It's coming together really nicely," Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer said.

To be eligible for the WomenHeart Champions program, candidates had to be heart disease survivors with a background in speaking, writing, technology, advocacy and volunteerism.

Applicants submitted five essays and three letters of recommendation, including one from a cardiologist.

"It's something that was in my blood," said Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer, who is a longtime volunteer with St. Madeleine Sophie parish and her son's Boy Scout troop as well as a congenital heart disease patient. She felt the program "kind of called out" to her.

When Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer was born in the 1950s in Boston, doctors told her parents she had a heart murmur. When she had trouble keeping up with other kids in high school gym class, she was diagnosed with something much more complex: Ebstein's anomaly.

This condition causes the right atrium to be larger than usual, thus preventing the right ventricle from working properly.

Though she occasionally feels short of breath, the condition didn't stop Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer from ballet or exercise, but it did throw a wrench in her plans for the future. When she applied to a naval academy during her freshman year in college, she was denied - despite passing a physical and a fitness test.

Instead, Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer finished her bachelor's degree in French and chemistry. She later earned Master's degrees in technical writing and business and traveled the world as an international manager for AT&T for 16 years.

When she accepted a management buyout, she returned to school and earned her teaching degree at The College of Saint Rose in Albany.

Likewise, when Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer was told that bearing children would strain her heart too much, she and her husband, Keith, adopted daughter Abigail instead. Then Abigail's birth parents contacted the Kizers about adopting her brother, Colin.

"I always think God gives us these challenges for a reason, and it may not be apparent for a long time," Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer said, musing: "Maybe my faith is leading me in this advocacy role."

What to watch
She aims to share her story with women affected by heart disease, offer a listening ear to those struggling with lifestyle changes and share lifesaving tips. She noted a few:

• If you think you're having a heart attack, go to the hospital. Don't wait. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women, but only 21 percent of women think it's the greatest threat to their health.

• In addition to chest pain, symptoms of a heart attack in women can include neck pain, jaw pain, abdominal pain, shoulder pain and nausea or vomiting.

• Make doctors take your symptoms seriously. Advocate for yourself.

• Monitor your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers.

• For more information and to assess your risks, visit www. womenheart.org.

• Exercise. Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer swims a half-mile three days a week, uses a treadmill for 30 minutes two days a week and practices ballet on Saturdays. She participates in an indoor triathlon annually.

• Pray and meditate.

Women often put themselves last over family and work, Mrs. Flaherty-Kizer said; but "there are times when we have to say no. I have to carve out time for me - spiritually, physically and emotionally."

Her faith has helped her adjust to changes throughout her life.

"We tend to think we're in control of things, but we're really not," she remarked. "I can't control what I have, but I can control how I react to it."

(01/27/11) [[In-content Ad]]

---