Imperfect Heart NewsPod: From Patient to Advocate—Kaylin Kellert Goes Red for Women with the American Heart Association

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this Imperfect Heart News pod. We tell stories about events that are coming up, and in this case, we happen to have one of our very own Kaylin Kellert, a myocardial bridge Unroofed, uh, what, what are you? Where we happen to have one of our very own, a myocardial bridge Unroofed patient who about two years ago had her surgery, is now recovering and recovering well. 

Uh, for those of you who are on the Facebook page and active, you recognize her as one of our, our top contributors, and for those who don't, you can hear the episode on Imperfect Heart, the podcast. We're talking to Kaylin today about something very, very different, and it's an opportunity that she saw to give back.

Before we get there, I'd like her to address just how she's doing, where she's at in her recovery, where she is post-surgery. [00:01:00] Kaylin Kellert, welcome. It's great to see you again. 

Kaylin Kellert: Thank you, Jeff. It's really great to see you again as well. I am two years post Un Roofing and I, it's like night and day from.

Before I had my surgery to now I wake up without much anxiety about what the day is gonna hold for me. This part of my life has brought a lot of peace and a lot of calm. I don't regret anything that I have gone through to get here. And I'm really fortunate that I had the surgery. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and I wanna make sure everybody understands yours was not the simplest of recoveries either.

You had a lot of ups and downs and ins and outs and sideways and, and things that weren't expected. So it's great to hear that at this point in time, it all seems to have settled down. 

Kaylin Kellert: Mm-hmm. And I hope it stays that way. I don't foresee myself having any [00:02:00] more, uh. Significant bumps. Of course, I'm still cognizant that it is a possibility, but I won't anticipate it.

It'll, if it happens, it does. I'm. I am, I'm knowledgeable enough to, to know how to handle it if it does 

Jeff Holden: so, sure. You've been through it and I will say, I think you are the youngest guest we've had on the program. 

Kaylin Kellert: Oh. 

Jeff Holden: So I 

Kaylin Kellert: did not know that. 

Jeff Holden: Yes, yes. So really, really wonderful to see you Doing well. And have so much in front of you, and I wanna talk a little bit about why we're even having this short episode, these news pods is because you have gotten involved with the American Heart Association and there is a program that takes place, it's a fundraiser for the organization every year.

It's called Go Red for Women, if I'm not mistaken, correct? 

Kaylin Kellert: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Kaylin. How On Earth. Did you become a woman of impact in a city of Austin that's a relatively new city to you? To [00:03:00] be tapped on the shoulder to say, we'd like you to do this. 

Kaylin Kellert: I was at the gym, like usual on the treadmill, and it was like a kismet moment.

I looked up at the screen, there was an advertisement for Austin's American Heart Association, heart Walk. I didn't realize it was an annual thing and it was in two days. So I signed up and I get there. I'm the first person there, I'm like 40 minutes early. There's nobody else except for the sponsors that are setting up their tables with, you know, little gifts and snacks.

And I go up to the very front, 'cause I see a dedication wall and they've got the dedication that's on the table. And I'm talking to Jessica Lucas, who is the coordinator for these. For Woman of Impact, all the impact campaigns. And another lady, and I share my story with them, how I'm a veteran, how I. Had open heart surgery and how I'm consistent in the gym because they had [00:04:00] questions about fitness because of my physique.

So, and then the scar. So I leave the table after grabbing myself a free hat and riding on the wall, and Jessica comes running down to me, hands me her card, and she says, I want you for this. I said, okay, I don't know what it is, but okay, I will do whatever. So after the day ended, I reached out to her and she nominated me as a Woman of Impact.

Jeff Holden: Congratulations. That's an awesome story. And I think there's a piece that you left out when we were talking earlier, you had that you're a myocardial bridge. 

Kaylin Kellert: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Survivor amongst these hundreds of people in the walk and. 

Kaylin Kellert: So I wrote on the dedication, the myocardial bridging with endothelial dysfunction, and I'm walking around with maybe four or 500 other people and not a single other person knew what either of those conditions were.

Jeff Holden: And you're on an American Heart Association walk with cardiologists [00:05:00] and nurses. Yes. 

Speaker 3: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Well, all of the more reason we still have work to do, don't we? 

Kaylin Kellert: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Tell us a little bit about it. 

Kaylin Kellert: So, the Go Red for Women Campaign, it brings attention to the reality that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women.

And you know, historically, within medical institutions, cardiovascular disease was regarded as a man's disease. And that has. In proven false. Mm-hmm. In recent decades. So the, you know, the consequence of this. Perpetuated misogyny within these medical institutions is the lack of adequate care for women in health.

It impacts research. It impacts funding, uh, that women can receive for lifesaving procedures. It impacts the spread of awareness [00:06:00] and what the Go Rudd campaign is. What the Women of Impact do is to campaign. To work to increase funding for these programs and to empower women through cardiovascular disease.

I mean, one in three women will be impacted by cardiovascular disease at some point in their lifetime. So. My goal is to spread awareness about myocardial, bridging, endothelial dysfunction, all of the cardiovascular diseases that I have come to, to, to be aware of myself within the past few months. 

Jeff Holden: It's interesting we say that it, it tends to or has tended to be a man's disease when in reality you are absolutely correct, especially with myocardial bridges.

They are gender agnostic. It doesn't matter if you're a male or a female. That same 25% or greater of us has the condition. [00:07:00] Not all symptomatic, but nonetheless, it's there. It could become symptomatic, but we know from the women that we've had on the program, and so many times, the people I speak with who have not been on the program, the condition for women heart disease in general, not just myocardial bridges, is so often dismissed.

It's so often gone. Undiagnosed it. It's so often treated as stress or anxiety or something other than what it truly is, and it's just now. And I think a lot of that is because of the American Heart Association and programs like Women of Impact making the Go Red program, raise that awareness that women too, to maybe even a greater percentage.

Are more likely to suffer a consequence of some sort of cardiac challenge. So I, I, I applaud you. I really applaud you and everybody that steps into this space to make the awareness greater. In general of, of cardiac disease [00:08:00] and the impact it has on women holistically across the board, as well as myocardial bridges because you can speak specifically to the condition and endothelial dysfunction and so many of the other consequences that can come as a result of the bridge.

Now this, this campaign that the American Heart Association has in the grand scheme of things, it is a fundraiser. Tell us a little bit about how that works. And it's competitive to some degree too, isn't it? 

Kaylin Kellert: It is competitive. I, I don't like to look at it as a competition between myself and the other women, uh, that are involved, at least in Austin or even nationwide, that are involved as Women of Impact, because all the funds go to the same thing, goes to the same mission, the same initiative, which is to spread awareness about cardiovascular disease, what it looks like for.

Everybody what it looks like for women, for children, for men, and then going towards lifesaving [00:09:00] procedures, uh, research, CPR classes, a ED, courses and applications that the American Heart Association is developing so that people can locate these resources. So yes, although there is a fundraising aspect, I think it's important to me.

To acknowledge that it's all for, for something so much bigger than all of us, and it's just to help each other 

Jeff Holden: and it does go for the greater cause, which is why we're having this conversation. Because although you are in Austin, the dime that's raised in Austin still goes to the contribution. That goes to the awareness and the recognition and the research that the American Heart Association is so well known for.

Uh, if, uh, if anybody's listening and hasn't been to that website, it is extremely, extremely comprehensive and we're actually speaking with the American Heart Association here in this region to not only do an [00:10:00] episode, but there is progress being made on some, some information that they're going to be releasing at some point in the not too distant future with regard to myocardial bridging.

So. I'm very encouraged by that because obviously that's our passion and making sure that this condition gets recognized. How does it work if we are interested in supporting you in your Austin efforts to raise funding? 

Kaylin Kellert: I do have a QR code and I post my links pretty much every single day on social media, and people can find my pages on Instagram and Facebook With just my first and last name, Kaylin Kellert I, I am very active on both of those platforms for this fundraiser.

Jeff Holden: Oh, you're very active on both those platforms, period. Come on. 

Kaylin Kellert: Yes, 

Jeff Holden: so, and we will, we will put that QR code in the notes for this news pod as [00:11:00] well. Kaylin, what would you like to say to the group? This is our Myocardial Bridge group of listeners who are very, very engaged with regard to the opportunity to participate with you in the Go Red for women.

Kaylin Kellert: I would not. Be here and be so passionate about advocating for others. If I didn't have the agency that everybody here gave me, if I didn't have the knowledge provided by our myocardial bridging group, people like you, for example, that put out a book about our experiences. And being nominated as a woman of impact in general is, I mean, I, I feel really honored to even have that title because there are so many women that have impacted me in this group that have helped me [00:12:00] get here.

So I just wanna say to everybody that we've come across and that listens to these podcasts that. You have a voice. There are people that are fighting hard to advocate for you, and there's hope, 

Jeff Holden: and you. Said that very eloquently. The key word there is that advocacy, self-advocacy, and any advocates that we can get on the outside are so, so much appreciated because it's, it's a challenge, you know, getting the condition identified properly and by raising funds, by raising the awareness as a result of the money that gets contributed.

It just makes the condition that much more familiar for those who are really struggling with it, to give them that hope that you just mentioned. Kaylin Kellert, I am so proud of you. I'm, I'm so happy to see you doing well. It's been a little while since we've spoken and what you're doing. Is just one of those [00:13:00] proofs positive of appreciation to say, I'm here, I'm better.

I wanna give it back. I wanna see what I can do to support the rest of us who are not as fortunate or have not been through the procedure yet to get that quality of life back to all of our imperfect, our community. I am so, so. Proud and happy to see what you're doing. I wish you the best of luck to contribute and that QR code will be front and center on the episode notes so that you can see how to support you in this effort.

So thank you so much. 

Kaylin Kellert: Thank you so much. It was great to see you.