In Latoya Jordan’s world, “family comes first” is more than a mantra. It’s a way of life, as a wife and mother raising four fearless daughters.
While living in New York, Latoya learned how to be strong, determined and face challenges head-on — lessons she now instills in her own children. These traits proved useful when the Jordans resettled in the South at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But between the big move and preparing the girls for virtual school, Latoya found it difficult to squeeze in any ‘me time.’ Caring for her little ones often led to putting her own health last.
However, with two different heart conditions — a murmur and high blood pressure — the mother needed tailored care to live her fullest life.
With the help of Wellstar, Latoya got expert care to stay heart healthy, right in her new neighborhood. But beyond that, she found a trusted healthcare family that had her covered when it came to her well-being.
LatoyaCare
Published on November 11, 2021
Last updated 10:25 AM November 11, 2021
As a busy mom, I don’t have a lot of time to myself, but I wanted to be healthier for my kids and family. Now, I have my heart murmur and high blood pressure under control, and I’m going to live a long time.
- Latoya Jordan
Wellstar Heart Care Patient
Listen to Latoya's Story
Finding care during COVID-19
When the Jordans moved over 900 miles from New York to Georgia, they looked forward to catching up with family and never missing a Double Dutch jump rope match again. But COVID-19 quickly changed their plans.
“We moved at the beginning of the pandemic. It was hard getting to know a new area, but we made it. My kids couldn’t go to school for the first year,” Latoya said, explaining the stressful time.
“At the start, I didn’t have a doctor or insurance either,” she said. And, because all of her providers were based in New York, she also went without her prescription medicine for a period of time.
But when she started experiencing headaches and minor chest pains, Latoya knew it was time to get care for her heart murmur and high blood pressure.
After establishing a primary care provider, Latoya was quickly connected with specialty care at Wellstar Avalon Health Park. The mother of four was grateful to get safe care during the pandemic.
“I wasn’t afraid to go to the doctor. I was thankful to be able to get care,” Latoya said about getting treatment when she needed it most.
Here, Wellstar Cardiologist Dr. Natasha Mamdani partnered with Latoya to create a personalized treatment plan for her cardiac conditions and keep her heart healthy.
One-of-a-kind heart care
Ever since the beginning, Dr. Mamdani has been committed to creating a care plan centered around Latoya’s unique needs.
“Latoya was initially diagnosed with hypertension during her last pregnancy. After giving birth, her symptoms improved,” Dr. Mamdani said, explaining the mother’s situation. “However, she developed high blood pressure months later.”
“This can be quite common. When someone has gestational hypertension, it can often lead to having hypertension later in life,” Dr. Mamdani said.
Because of the hectic move and gap in care after leaving the Empire State, Latoya went without her medications for a few months, which caused uncontrolled hypertension.
To bring her blood pressure back down to a normal level, Dr. Mamdani prescribed heart medications that would work best for Latoya and monitored her closely. She created a tailored care plan to keep the mother feeling her best.
“Every single patient is different. Latoya’s treatment plan was built around what did and didn’t work for her,” Dr. Mamdani said about how she used PeopleCare in her approach.
“I took my blood pressure three times a day,” Latoya said, describing the plan to get her heart health under control. “Dr. Mamdani worked with me to find the right medications and dosage. I saw her every two weeks to make sure my levels were going down.”
Along with specialized care, Latoya found compassion and support from team members every time she stopped at Wellstar Avalon Health Park.
“At Wellstar, everyone is very friendly and kind. They make you feel welcome,” Latoya shared. “When I go to my appointments, everyone knows my name and remembers who I am. It feels like we’re family and we’ve known each other for a long time.”
After just a handful of visits, her blood pressure was back under control. But even with Latoya’s quick success, Dr. Mamdani encouraged her to make lasting changes to stay well in the long run.
Leaving the comfort zone
Along with medicines to manage her heart conditions, Dr. Mamdani also gave Latoya a “prescription” for health. This meant forming new, healthier habits for diet and exercise.
“When it comes to heart health, staying active is important even if it’s just walking 20 to 30 minutes a day,” Dr. Mamdani explained. “It’s also helpful to eat a diet low in carbs and animal fats like red meat.”
Having the support of the Wellstar family has been crucial during Latoya’s new wellness journey. She has learned different ways to manage her heart conditions and how to have fun along the way.
“Before trying a new food, we always do a little taste test first,” Latoya smiled. “So far, my favorite healthy food is asparagus. Our whole family loves it.”
She added, “We even have ‘Vegan Mondays’ to try a new vegan meal each week.”
With her busy schedule, Latoya has made it a point to prioritize her health needs. She is focusing on finding exercises she enjoys and doing them whenever she can.
“It’s hard to fit in exercise, but I’m trying my best,” Latoya said. “I enjoy riding my bike outside, visiting trails and new dog parks.”
All of Latoya’s willpower has led to real changes in her health.
“After finding the right medications and monitoring her diet and exercise changes, Latoya’s blood pressure is now well controlled,” Dr. Mamdani said. “I am happy with her results.”
“For physicians, it’s our job to present information in a way patients understand and are able to take home the lessons we teach them,” the cardiologist said about her role in Latoya’s journey.
Along with healthy habits, Latoya has discovered another important lesson: taking care of her own wellness needs to be there for her family longer.
“As a busy mom, I don’t have a lot of time to myself, but I wanted to be healthier for my kids and family,” Latoya said, sharing how her loved ones became her motivation.
“Now, I have my heart murmur and high blood pressure under control, and I’m going to live a long time.”
Moving forward, Latoya’s future and heart health look brighter than ever, especially with her Wellstar family by her side.
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In March of 2021, Ashley Martin suffered cardiac arrest, which kills about 90% of people when it happens outside of a hospital. Thankfully, she was already at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center receiving the compassionate care she’d been seeking to address a long list of symptoms.
Everything began at a hectic time in Ashley’s life. She was 30 and had just gotten engaged. Wedding planning had started with the help of her fiancé and their two young boys. The hope had been to have the wedding toward the end of 2021. But the unexpected happened.
“I was always healthy,” she said. “I grew up playing sports. I was a runner. I used to get headaches, but that was the extent of my medical history.”
Finding the right care when there is more than one symptom
Symptoms of what would ultimately be diagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome began in February of 2021. This rare neurological disorder causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves.
Ashley started experiencing tingling in the tips of her hands and feet, which moved up her legs and arms as days passed. When intermittent numbness became a symptom, Ashley went to a hospital near her Peachtree City home. A clean CT and MRI meant she went home with plans to see a rheumatologist.
As she waited for her first appointment, she started feeling numbness in her feet.
“At one point, I took a step down the stairs and went tumbling down to the concrete floor,” Ashley said.
On another trip to the hospital near her home, Ashley was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, but treatment was unsuccessful. The numbness continued, spreading to her face. She began using a walker and, soon after, a wheelchair.
“The paralysis had moved to my abdomen,” Ashley said. “I went to sleep one night and woke up abruptly gasping for air.”
Compassionate medical care at a pivotal point
Later that night, an ambulance brought Ashley to Wellstar Kennestone, where she would finally get the specialized neuro care she desperately needed. She was admitted to the Neurocritical Care unit, staffed by physicians, nurses and a medical team with specialized training in neurological conditions.
Upon arrival, she underwent respiratory failure due to paralysis spreading to her diaphragm. She was stabilized, but shortly after that, she experienced sudden cardiac arrest — the abrupt loss of heart function that stops blood flow to the body.
After a critical care nurse administered CPR, Ashley’s heart started beating again. Life support medications were given to keep her heart pumping.
“The neuro ICU nurses and doctors saved my life,” she said.
Later, her attending neurologist explained that the stress of her nervous system and immune system fighting, paired with respiratory failure, caused such high stress that she had a cardiac arrest.
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There aren’t many people out there who can say they survived cardiac arrest at 30. Kevin Miskewicz can.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 90% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Those who survive often have permanent neurological disabilities. But Kevin’s story has an incredibly fortunate ending, thanks to the highly coordinated work of his medical experts at Wellstar.
Recovering from cardiac arrest is something Kevin will never forget. It lives forever as a piece of his health history — one that includes a dedicated healthcare team — and his wife, who was the first to save his life.
CPR to the rescue
Kevin woke up on Labor Day 2017 at 5:30 a.m. to take the dog out. Pausing to adjust the thermostat as he came in, he fell, knocking over a lamp.
He was in cardiac arrest.
With no symptoms and no known pre-existing condition, this was unexpected, but that didn’t stop his wife, Andrea, from jumping into action.
“If it weren’t for me knocking over a lamp when I passed out,” said Kevin, “she would have never woken up and saved my life.”
In addition to calling 911 and unlocking the door for the paramedics, Andrea performed CPR for 10 minutes.
“Kevin’s wife doing good CPR was critical,” said Dr. Arthur Reitman, the interventional cardiologist who was a vital part of Kevin’s treatment team at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center. “More than five minutes of poor blood flow to the brain can result in permanent irreparable injury from which a patient is unable to recover.”
Coordinating multidisciplinary care to save a life
When paramedics arrived at Kevin’s home, he had no pulse and was not breathing. As the paramedics performed their lifesaving work, he technically died two times.
The ambulance took him to Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center, where he was initially assessed and treated by Dr. David Jacoboff. The interventional cardiologist implanted an intra-aortic balloon pump to stabilize him. Then, he transferred Kevin to Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center for highly specialized heart care.
When Kevin arrived at Kennestone by helicopter, his heart function wasn’t strong enough to support his body. Dr. Reitman and a team of doctors including a cardiologist, a pulmonologist and critical care doctors worked in tandem to put Kevin on an advanced life support system called veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Better known as VA-ECMO, it took the heart “offline” so it could heal. The technology removed unoxygenated blood from his body, oxygenated it and pumped it back in for the next three days.
“Very few places in the state — only four or five hospitals — have the technology and specialized training to put a patient on ECMO,” Dr. Reitman explained.
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Judy Robinson finished her fifth tour as a civilian assisting the military in January of 2018. She prioritized visiting her mother, her three adult daughters and five grandchildren when she returned to Douglasville. Second on the list was scheduling her routine health checks, as required every year by the military, including having a mammogram.
Mammograms can catch cancer early and lead to better outcomes
A mammogram is a routine X-ray that takes a picture of the breast to identify early signs of breast cancer. Mammograms can catch cancer before it can be felt, sometimes up to three years earlier. When breast cancer is detected earlier, the outcomes can be better for patients.
At Wellstar Douglas Medical Center, Judy’s mammogram identified a lump in the breast. A biopsy confirmed it was cancer. This was the third time Robinson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 20 years.
Overcoming breast cancer, time after time
“The most aggressive breast cancer I had was the very first time,” she said, explaining that when her breast cancer was treated in 1998, she had a lumpectomy (a breast-preserving procedure that only removes the abnormal tissue from the breast), radiation and chemotherapy.
Her daughters were school-aged children at the time, and Robinson’s mother helped with their care as Robinson underwent aggressive treatment.
“I went to work one day, and I thought to myself, ‘I can’t do this. This is too much,’” she remembered. “I saw their picture on my desk, and I thought, ‘You know what, Lord, I’ve got to hang in here for them.’ My whole attitude changed. It wasn’t about me or how I was feeling. It was about providing for them.”
She fought breast cancer and won, eating healthily, exercising and loving her family for nearly 10 years before it returned.
“I was on Tamoxifen (a hormonal therapy used to treat hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer), and it was so strong it threw me into menopause,” she said. “I was having hot flashes so bad, so I stopped taking it. If I would have stayed on it, it may not have come back.”
When cancer returned to her left breast, Robinson chose to have a mastectomy — complete breast removal and reconstructive surgery.
“My attitude for treatment was better the second time,” she said, smiling. “I would skip in there and bring that positive sunshine personality to rub off on everybody else!”
In 2018, she was diagnosed for the third time — this time, the breast cancer was in her right breast. She had a mastectomy at Wellstar Cobb Medical Center and breast reconstruction surgery in September 2020.
“Breasts don’t make or break us,” Judy said. “We are who we are as humans. It’s all about what’s in the heart. I’ve learned that. And, reconstructive surgery has its perks!”
Her oncologist recommended a long-term oral medication to help decrease the chance of the cancer returning. Throughout her treatment, Robinson found comfort by participating in a breast cancer support group at Wellstar Douglas Medical Center.
“I didn’t have any hair — I was wearing a wig,” she remembered. “I met a lady who had ovarian cancer, and it was amazing. I always find comfort in talking to others there.”
Robinson’s purpose
Robinson has had her share of health challenges, including living with multiple sclerosis, diagnosed around the same time as her third breast cancer diagnosis. But she has an incredibly positive outlook.
Robinson owns two service-oriented businesses and runs them with her sister and two of her daughters.
Nell's Place is a transitional home serving civilians and veterans with disabilities such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Robinson goes above and beyond the call of duty, often playing the role of a family member in addition to that of a daily caregiver. She often takes groups of residents out to dinner to celebrate a resident’s birthday when their family is not involved.
Judy and her family also operate In Loving Hands Adult Day & Health, caring for seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia and children and adults with developmental disabilities.
“I look at my purpose for still being here as God’s purpose,” she said. “I don’t take anything for granted. He’s allowing me to be a good steward — to see about others, even in my condition. I’m still able to give, and I’m still able to love.”
Have you had a mammogram?
Screening can help catch breast cancer early and may improve outcomes after treatment. Learn more about mammograms and schedule one at a location near you.
IN THE PHOTO:
Judy Robinson overcame breast cancer three times to run service-oriented businesses with her sister, Wendy Favors (not pictured), and her daughters. Pictured from left to right: Tamara Robinson, Somer Robinson, Judy Robinson and Brittia Childs.