In the Loop: From heart failure to the finish line

Monica Harlow looked around at the people lined up to run the 26.2 miles of the Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix. “Every one of these runners has a story,” she thought. “Everyone is here for a reason.” Perhaps none more so than Monica herself.

Nine years ago, Monica could run only a short distance before running out of breath. She wasn't too worried. She’d played field hockey in high school, was thin and had always assumed she was healthy. Still, when she and her husband started thinking about starting a family, Monica decided to have a physical. Her family practice physician noted that Monica had a heart murmur, which she’d known about since childhood. Most heart murmurs are harmless, and none of Monica’s physicians had ever been concerned about hers. But, her physician referred her to a cardiologist, just to be safe. Read the rest of Monica's story.
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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.