ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sydney Pelusio is a busy wife and mother of two. She faced a life-threatening health crisis in March 2024.

The active runner initially thought she had the flu when she experienced general fatigue and overall sickness. After three days, her family urged her to seek medical help. IV and generic medication wasn’t helping. Instead, her condition worsened and she was rushed to Unity Hospital.

“I think an hour and 15 minutes after arriving at Unity is when I was already in the cath lab and had cardiac arrest,” she recounted.

Doctors diagnosed her with myocarditis, a condition triggered by a virus that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. Her immune system was attacking her heart.

“In the setting of a heart attack, you say time is muscle, so the longer you wait, the more the heart muscle dies and these situations, we were looking just to keep Sydney alive,” said Dr. Cameron Hall, an interventional cardiologist at Rochester Regional Health.

Sydney’s life was saved by Impella, the world’s smallest heart pump. “It’s an implantable device that goes through the arteries. It gets into the heart, and it actively pumps blood out of the heart and into the body, and it keeps the body alive,” Dr. Hall explained.

Her heart began to repair itself, eliminating the need for a transplant. It was still a long road to recovery. She takes medicine every day, but hasn’t had any major complications since. Back in November, she was able to say thank you to the doctors who helped save her life.

Fast forward several months, Sydney was ready to run again. “I think that this was just a way to prove to myself that I can still do it, and I can still do hard things,” she said.

On February 23rd, she completed a half marathon at Disney World, reclaiming a vital part of her life. “I have always been physically fit, sports, everything. I have run half marathons before. I’ve done plenty of 5Ks. I’ve participated in every sport that you can think of,” Sydney shared.

While Sydney is physically healthier, she acknowledges the mental toll of her experience. “I don’t think there are words that can express the toll that trauma, traumatic event has taken mentally, physically, emotionally,” she said. Putting her health first is easier said than done.

“There was definitely that stigma and I don’t know if it was because I’m a woman or because I’m a mom, but it was always just as a mom or like myself, we are putting our kids and our husbands and our family and other people first,” she reflected.

Sydney now maintains a strong relationship with her doctors, who emphasize the importance of professional medical advice over self-diagnosis.

The CDC says one person dies every 33 seconds from a cardiovascular disease. It is the man killer of women in the United States, according to American Heart Association.

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