Day One With Sandra Robbins!

The San Antonio Riverwalk

My Birthday Wish

Today is my birthday, and I'm thrilled to be celebrating another one. A few years ago I thought I had probably seen my last one. I, like so many people, had taken the great gift of life for granted until I came face to face with my own mortality.

I'll never forget how hot it was that July day. I had brought one of my granddaughters and two of my nieces to San Antonio to visit my daughter and her family. On that particular afternoon she and I decided we would take her two teenagers and the three I'd brought with me to the San Antonio Riverwalk. We planned to have dinner at a restaurant and then take a boat ride through the city.

All went fine until almost time for us to board the boat. I noticed some discomfort in my chest, but not wanting to cause a problem, I boarded the boat and set sail down the river. Within minutes I realized I had done the wrong thing. My daughter had the driver of the boat put us out beside the river, and we called 911. When EMTs arrived, I was having a heart attack.

As I look back on that day, I realize how God performed a great miracle and provided me with blessings like I would never have expected. I was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a major medical center that was less than five miles from where I had gotten out of the boat. When we arrived, the doctor in the ER told me that a cardiologist was in the cath lab and had just finished with another patient. So within minutes of leaving the boat I was in surgery and having a stent implanted in an artery.

The next day the ICU nurses told me how fortunate I was to have had the doctor who performed my surgery. They said people came to San Antonio from all over the world to him for treatment and that he wrote for all the major medical journals. Only later did it occur to me that if I had wanted an appointment with him, I probably would have had to wait weeks. But that night God had made me an appointment that saved my life.

Spokespersons who wish to educate women all the time about having a healthy heart tell us that women are quick to deny they are having a heart attack. Perhaps, like me, they want to believe it's indigestion and don't want to interrupt what's going on in the life of their family. I was that way until God slowed me down.

As I blow out the candles on my birthday cake today, my wish is that you will educate yourself about the risks of heart disease for women. It's killing women all across the country, and I don't want you to experience a wake-up call like I did.

Let's all wish Sandra a happy birthday!