Jennifer Maeda Deering of Cross River thought she lived a pretty healthy life as a professional racquetball player, until her body began to fail her in ways she could not ignore. She said she gained 10 pounds in just three days and became so breathless that she could not walk across her bedroom, alarming symptoms that sent her searching for answers.
Those answers proved frustratingly hard to come by. The problem sent her to the doctor 14 times, but she was dismissed at each visit. She was sent to an ENT twice and told it could be vocal cord dysfunction, with the suggestion that it was because women talk a lot, and she was sent to an allergist who told her it must just be asthma, as her real condition went unrecognised.
As her symptoms worsened, Deering pushed back and demanded a test that would finally reveal what was wrong. She insisted on a chest x-ray, and the results were stark. The x-ray showed that her heart was extremely enlarged and that she had a great deal of fluid around her heart and lungs, a picture far removed from the vocal cord and allergy diagnoses she had been given.
With the true severity of her condition now clear, she was taken seriously at last. Deering ended up at Westchester Medical Center, where doctors confronted the gravity of the situation. The first thing the doctor said was heart transplant, a word that left her in absolute disbelief, and she went on to undergo the surgery.
Her ordeal has since become the basis for a wider cause. Deering is now using her experience to fight against gender bias in the healthcare field, a problem that doctors acknowledge still persists. One explanation offered is that men are often seen as working harder and under higher emotional stress, so the perceived urgency of identifying that something is wrong is treated as higher for men than for women.
Above all, Deering is urging other women to speak up for themselves. She noted that even she, someone who considered herself very good at advocating for herself, was still dismissed, and she says that if you are not getting the answers you need, you should keep asking. She has also launched a fundraising campaign, Jen's Heart Prints, to help other women get the care that they deserve.