An Omaha mother and fitness instructor Angie Jorgensen said she is lucky to be alive.
"December of 2012, Dec. 7. I woke up in the morning was feeling horrible, and pretty soon I was having my husband drive me to the ER," Jorgensen said.
"I ended up coding twice, once for 15 minutes before they brought me back with CPR. At that point, I had 5 percent heart life, and I was not expected to live."
A rare benign tumor in her adrenal gland had sent her adrenaline levels skyrocketing and led to cardiac arrest. Doctors fought to save Jorgensen, and did.
"Doctors told me because I had taken such good care of my health, that was the reason I was able to withstand everything that happened to me," she said.
Now, she is adamant about getting frequent health checks.
"If you know where your numbers are, you're in offensive mode rather than defensive mode," she said.
On Wednesdays throughout February, six CVS locations with "minute clinics" are offering screenings completely free as part of a program through the American Heart Association of Nebraska. The goal: watch your numbers — cholesterol, glucose levels, blood pressure — before something bad happens.
"We have everything in one visit," said Jill Brown, an APRN at CVS. "Typically, visits last about 20 minutes, so we'll do everything back here. I take your information, and you will leave will all of your numbers in hand and leave with some health coaching educational tidbits at the end."
Jorgensen said that remarkably, she has made a full recovery with no meds, by just maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
"I'm just so grateful," she said. "And my thought is if I can maybe pass on some information — or just encourage people to take great care of their health — then I'm happy to pay it forward."
