Watching: The Hidden Epidemic - Heart Disease In America
Chapter 1: Out of Nowhere [7:00]
Fit and apparently healthy, the father of a young family is hit hard by heart disease.
Transcript: Chapter 1 - Out of Nowhere
Fit and apparently healthy, the father of a young family is hit hard by heart disease.
JOANNE WILLIAMS
You know, my father's always been larger than life in everything. So I'll miss that, you know, I'll miss that. And I'll, um. It'll be hard. It'll be really hard.
MICHAEL WILLIAMS
I know dad's got heart disease. It's progressive. It's not going to reverse itself.
FRED WILLIAMS
He's going to die, you know. Nobody wants to admit it, OK? Nobody wants to--to look at it
JAMILLE BENSON
It's just scary. It's like you don't even- you're not even forced to think about what if your parents not being around until something happens.
DR. STEVE NISSEN
It can happen to anybody. There's no question, heart disease is the number-one problem in America.
ROBIN IVANY
My heart out of nowhere, it started beating and squeezing as fast as you can imagine. I remember laying there thinking, this can't be happening
DR. DANIEL LEVY
In the United States, one in two men and one out of every three women will eventually develop heart disease during their lifetimes.
DR. WILLIAM CASTELLI
Half of us die from this disease. 80% of us die with it.
KEN CHRISTIANSON
I had no warning until I had my massive heart attack. I was clinically dead three minutes and came back.
DR. PETER LIBBY
We've gotten so good at keeping people from dying during the acute phase of a heart attack, many in the public perceive cardiovascular disease as a done deal, as a problem solved. Nothing could be further from the truth.
DR. STEVE NISSEN
We have to find what's driving that disease, and to try to attack it at its root causes.
DR. PETER LIBBY
Our ideas of how heart attacks come about have evolved enormously in the last decade, but we haven't really completely unraveled the mystery of cardiovascular risk.
OPENING TITLES & FUNDER CREDITS
AMI KANN
Philip was very high energy and treated me very well, and we had a very good time together. He was always giving me compliments, sending me cards and flowers until I finally told him, um, you don't have to buy me cards and flowers every - every other day.
ADELE ACK
It was just like the perfect thing to happen. He was so happy. It was just a wonderful match.
AMI KANN
We wanted to start a family, and it happened relatively quick, and we were hoping for a girl.
ADELE ACK
He was so thrilled. And the morning the baby was born he called me and said, it's a girl! He was so excited.
AMI KANN
The baby was born in April, and in May, we had Philip's birthday first, and then Philip's son Justin's birthday three days later. And, um, we just stayed home that day and played with the baby, and, you know, the baby was only 10 days old. We didn't really a make big celebration. I thought there was lots of time for those things.
ADELE ACK
I didn't get to see him. Two days later was Mother's Day, and I just remember him calling me that night and saying, I love you.
AMI KANN
I woke up to take care of the baby. I think it was probably 400 or 500 in the morning. And Philip, he was snoring very, very loud. Louder than usual, and I couldn't wake him or budge him. I had tried, because it was actually disturbing me, as exhausted as I was. And I took care of the baby and went back to sleep. And by 930, I tried to wake up Philip and I could not wake him up.
ADELE ACK
I got a call at work from my daughter, and I said, what's wrong? And she said, don't ask questions. Just get over to Philip's.
AMI KANN
The way he looked, and the fact that he wasn't moving, I--I knew. I knew he was dead.
NARRATOR
Philip Epstein died five days after his 44th birthday.
AMI KANN
I started to question it within a day. You know, what could have gone wrong? He had no health complaints that I know of.
ADELE ACK
He was working out, he was playing a lot of golf, he always was a swimmer. He was able to see Justin three times a week, he never missed. He never seemed to have any problems.
AMI KANN
I never really thought of him as having any health issues, but really he probably had heart disease.
NARRATOR
Philip's death certificate said he died in his sleep of a massive heart attack. He left behind an infant daughter and a 10-year old son.
JUSTIN EPSTEIN
He was a great dad. He always believed in me. He got me an electric guitar like two days before he died. Said he was going to teach me to play it.
AMI KANN
The fact that the baby was two weeks old, and you know, we had wanted to start a family, and I felt like we didn't have the chance to - to - to do that. We didn't have the chance to raise our daughter together.
AMI KANN
You know, I considered this the beginning of our life together. I didn't know how long we would have, but I certainly never thought that things would change so quickly, that I would have a baby and he'd be gone two weeks later. That was - I can't ima - it was unimaginable.
Watch Take One Step for a Healthy Heart with Larry King >
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