Nebraskan shares her story during national heart health month 

It's the perfect time to focus on your cardiovascular health since February is national heart health month.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – It was an Easter Sunday Shannon Hilaire will never forget.

“I had a horrible headache, my vision was really blurry, I wasn’t hungry at all, I had trouble like driving,” Hilaire said.

Hilaire was eight months pregnant at the time so she thought some of her symptoms were just side effects of her pregnancy, but deep down she knew something was wrong.

“I took my blood pressure at home and it hurt to take it like it cut off circulation in my arm to take it. We took it a couple of times and it just keep gradually going up each time,” Hilaire said.

At one point her blood pressure reached 212/115, a number unimaginable. She got herself to the hospital where doctors were nervous she was going to stroke or seize.

Hilaire was diagnosed with Preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication caused by high blood pressure.

“Preeclampsia, in general, can be fatal for mother and baby, so it’s definitely not something to take lightly,” Hilaire said.

After a week in the hospital, Hilaire left with her husband and their miracle baby, whom they named Holiday. Doctors consider both of them lucky to be alive.

“If you had not come in tonight, if you had gone to bed, and ignored this, neither of you would be here because my numbers were so dangerously high that they were very fearful of a stroke. And because they were so high it would have been a massive stroke,” Hilaire said. “Just thinking about my husband waking up to that and not having our daughter and not being here to see her world, it has changed how I see everything.”

Hilaire now has a blood pressure cuff at home and uses it daily to keep an eye on her numbers. She speaks often about her experience, hoping to shed some light on her condition.

“I have become a lot more of an advocate for this, for trusting your body, for listening to yourself, for speaking up when something doesn’t feel right,” Hilaire said.

If you’d like to learn more information on heart health or to see Lincoln Fire and Rescue’s 2020 annual report, click HERE.