Today was my mother’s birthday. She loved her special connection to Valentine’s Day, and when I was a little girl, I bought some heart-shaped pans at the dime store and started baking her heart-shaped cakes every year. I’ve kept that tradition up to remember her. 
After my mother died of a massive heart attack, the doctors realized that she’d had advanced heart disease—never diagnosed, never treated, even though she got regular check-ups. Later, I would learn that heart disease is the #1 killer of women.
Today, it’s no longer considered just a “man’s disease,” and doctors do a much better job screening and treating women for cardiovascular disease than they did when my mother had her heart attack.
I remember my mother with these heart-shaped cakes, and I fight for medical research funding and health care as a basic human right so more people can live longer, healthier lives and celebrate more birthdays with their loved ones.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
