2025 Go Red for Women Class of Survivors: Robin Eaton

Robin Eaton knew something was wrong when she felt stabbing chest pain, arm numbness and other symptoms a week after gallbladder surgery, so she called 911. Her initial vitals showed everything was normal. But 30 minutes after the first responders told her everything was fine, the pain was still present. She decided to go to the hospital anyway. Listening to her body and advocating for herself helped save her life.

In 2023, hairstylist Robin Eaton was recovering from gallbladder surgery, and all was going well. She was released from the hospital and slowly getting more active. Then a week after arriving home, she started having stabbing chest pain, arm numbness and an intense backache. She knew something was seriously wrong. She called 911 and asked a neighbor to wait with her for the ambulance.  

EMS arrived and took her vitals, which were normal. They also gave her an electrocardiogram, or EKG, to measure the electrical activity of her heartbeat. Again, she was told everything was completely normal. One worker even said, “The good news is you’re not having a heart attack.” 

But after they left, the pain continued. Robin thought she was having heart attack symptoms but worried that she had been dismissed. 

“Because I was in my 40s and looked so healthy and so young, they thought there was no way I was having a heart attack,” she said. 

She also started to fear after-effects from her gallbladder surgery, such as an infection or something worse, so she went to the hospital with her neighbor.

The first thing the triage nurse did was an EKG, despite Robin explaining that she had just had one that was completely normal about 30 minutes earlier. The nurse told her it was just protocol, and the hospital wanted its own records.

“A cardiologist comes into the room, looks over at my EKG and tells me, ‘You’re having a heart attack.’ How can I be having a heart attack? I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been,” Robin remembers thinking. Robin had lost more than 80 pounds and was taking steps to be healthier mentally and physically. “But there I was lying with people all around me. I felt so alone and so scared. I knew I had to fight mentally to be here. I just knew I had to fight. I need to be here. It’s not my time yet.”

The doctor told Robin she was having a spontaneous coronary artery dissection heart attack, or SCAD. The rare emergency condition occurs from tearing in the heart artery wall. It often affects otherwise healthy women who have few, if any, heart disease risk factors. Women also have commonly reported emotional stress before SCAD. Robin was familiar with stress as a single working mom. Her sons are now 12 and 15.

“My life had changed that day,” Robin said. “But I knew going forward that I was going to live the best life I could, because the thought of not being there for my kids killed me. They are the most important things to me, and I will do anything for them. I had to advocate for myself in order to take care of them.”

Robin’s condition was treated with medication, followed by months of cardiac rehab. A specialist also wanted to determine the reason for her heart attack. Through testing, it was confirmed that Robin has fibromuscular dysplasia, an uncommon condition that causes abnormal cell growth that can cause narrowing, beading or tearing in the artery walls. Robin had a dissection in her heart and a CT scan also found that she had a brain aneurysm.

Now 47, she continues to draw on her family history for motivation to keep going. Her mother and maternal grandmother had heart attacks; her maternal grandfather had two heart attacks and a stroke; and her father has a pacemaker.

“My message for other women today is to research any health issue you have,” Robin said. “If you don’t get answers from one doctor, get a second opinion. Find another doctor, find your support system and ask questions. Doctors aren’t perfect, and neither am I. There is so much power in advocating for yourself.”

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