The fact of a heart attack became a reality when I was told by the emergency room on-call cardiologist that I couldn't wait for family to arrive to the hospital for support. "There's no time to lose." He needed to perform a heart catheterization procedure immediately.

Three months after recovering from my heart surgery, I ran my first 5k. My goal was to run the entire race and finish, and that I did.

My life is not "go, go, go" all the time like it was before. I rest more, eat better and take some time for myself. I think we all get used to doing too much and learn to ignore minor ailments or fatigue because that is what women are programmed to do.

After a visit to the emergency room, followed by an appointment with a cardiologist, my life would soon take an unexpected turn. I was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect that was causing my heart valve to leak severely and enlarged my heart twice the normal size.

My mind circled back to online articles I had read in the past few years about danger signals for women and heart attacks. It now occurred to me that I was experiencing some of them now.

I did live that night. I have another chance to really take in all that the dash has to offer. I now have a purpose in life.

It was a frosty March morning in Washington, D.C., but Andrea Wongsam was burning up. She opened her car windows and peeled off her clothing, but ...