Nicole Mason is an author, attorney, speaker, and leader in her community, but those things don't matter to a disease that claims one life every 38 seconds.
"I lost my mom, it's gonna be 13 years this year. She was 57 years old. She had congestive heart failure, went to sleep and just didn't wake up," says Mason.
Heart disease hit close to home for Nicole, then it got even closer.
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Mason says, "Shortly thereafter I was diagnosed myself with heart disease, and I was in just such grief that I really couldn't focus on my own health at the time."
"African-American women do not seem to think that heart disease impacts them as greatly as it has and does. And so I want to be that voice to say, 'We need to take more seriously our health and we need to be participants in our overall health and wellness,'" adds Mason.
She joined Team #HeartLove to run her first 5K, then set health goals with the help of her doctor.
Nicole's goals are:
- To improve her overall health an wellness.
- To get off of medications (Nicole's doctor prescribed her to use two low dose medications daily).
- To lead by example and be an example for other women.
Nicole's doctor says is she loses 25 pounds then she can get off of her medications.
"So i'm about halfway there, I was down 11 pounds at my last appointment in December," says Mason.
Thanks to her mother, Nicole says she shows up to her Team #HeartLove training with greatness in mind.
Mason says," For me, if it's one life that I touched, I've done good and my mother's legacy is not in vain.
