Olivia Rose

I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at the end of the summer of 2014. The doctors told me to stop exercising and start a medication regimen. They were hoping that...

Many of us have had times when we were admitted to the hospital because of heart failure. Depending on what the doctor says, you never know how long you’ll be...

"You can’t go into any water," are the words I heard when Sharon was explaining how the LVAD works. An LVAD is a battery-operated mechanical device that pumps the left...

I celebrated my 3rd Heartiversary on February 2nd. I cannot believe it has actually been 3 years since I was given my gift. On or close to my anniversary the heart...

When I was 25 years old, I suffered my first stroke. My family and I were shocked to hear this news and we didn’t know what was going to happen...

Whether you are around family or friends the topic of work will inevitably become one of the topics of conversation. If you’re like me you dread these conversations because you...

Patients and doctors agree that when you have a heart transplant you can experience transplant guilt. Transplant guilt is when the heart transplant patient feels guilty about benefitting from someone's...

If you are like me and the many other people in the world, you love to travel. Traveling with heart failure is something that can be nerve-wracking, but with the...

Many people do not really know the trauma a heart patient has to go through. Long hospital stays, doctor appointments, and many disappointments. It also begins to take a toll...

In 2014, when I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, I knew that my dating life was automatically in jeopardy. The main reason was that I was told by doctors not...

Many people ask me which was a harder recovery: the transplant or LVAD surgery? So, let’s set the scene. Before I had LVAD surgery I suffered a stroke, so my...

Finally back to the job market after being gone for 5 years. When I was diagnosed with advanced heart failure I was put on medical disability. It wasn’t just that...

When I got diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in 2014, I never knew that I would be in advanced heart failure 4 years later. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a heart disease that...

“You have heart failure,” is the single worst phrase you ever want to hear. Getting a diagnosis of heart failure is one of the most shocking things you can hear...

When you go through something as traumatic as being diagnosed with something like heart failure, it changes your entire life. My first taste of this was when I suffered a...

Last August I was lucky enough to get a call from the University of Maryland Medical School. The emergency room physician was also a professor at the University of Maryland...

Many of us have experienced the symptoms of heart failure. The hardest of which, I think, is fatigue and feeling exhausted. Sometimes being too tired to even get out of...

We all know what it is like when we get the diagnosis of heart failure. It is a feeling of panic, uncertainty, and many other emotions. With everything changing in...

Almost everyone has heard about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, but some people still do not understand what that means. Does it mean we should only be eating salads...

Heart disease is hard for everyone to process and most people do not know how to address it when it comes to explaining it to friends and family. We have...