‘What We’ve Learned About Our Hearts’

A mother-daughter team supports each other in preventing heart disease

The team approach – With inspiration from Heart Help for Women and encouragement from one another, Jean Parkansky (left) and her mother, Nancy Mazzarese, both of Forks Township, Pa., go biking, walking and shopping together to stay heart healthy.

Nancy Mazzarese, 54, comes from a family of women with breast cancer. She and her older sister both survived the disease. Then, the unthinkable happened— Mazzarese watched that same sister die of a heart attack at age 62, just days after retiring and the day she moved back home.

“We were so worried about breast cancer, we never thought about heart disease,” she says. “My sister didn’t complain of symptoms, though I’ve since learned that women don’t always have chest pain. Did she mistake subtle symptoms for the stress of moving?”

Distraught, Mazzarese turned to her 35-year-old daughter, Jean Parkansky. “If Jean weren’t my daughter, she’d be my best girlfriend,” Mazzarese says. Together, the Forks Township, Pa., pair began to view their family health history differently. Mazzarese made an appointment for a heart checkup. Parkansky went along “to listen and be supportive.”

Mazzarese learned she has high cholesterol and high triglycerides—and Parkansky learned that her mother’s condition puts her at risk, too. “The younger your mom is when she develops heart disease, the higher your risk,” says family physician Kimberly Legg Corba, M.D.,* of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “Mothers and daughters should be each other’s advocates and ask: Do you know the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke? Have you had your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides checked? Do you need to make changes? Can we do it together?”

Mazzarese and Parkansky already do most everything else together. They live three miles apart, shop as a team and have the same hairstylist. Now they’ve tackled heart health: with her daughter’s support, Mazzarese has lost weight and lowered her cholesterol to 193. How can you and your mother or daughter follow their example?

Make an exercise date

Every October, Mazzarese and Parkansky walk in the Women’s 5K Classic in Allentown to support breast cancer research. That means getting in shape beforehand. “Use a pedometer to track your daily steps together,” suggests Mazzarese’s cardiologist, Deb Sundlof, D.O.,* of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

Inspire each other in the kitchen

Parkansky and Mazzarese are having a taste test to see whose version of heart-healthy turkey casserole has more flavor. “The women in our family love to eat, especially dessert,” Parkansky says. Low-fat lemon cookies are a healthy way to indulge.

Don’t wait until something is wrong to talk

“Women tend to get so busy, we forget to check in on each other,” Sundlof says. Bring up the topic of heart health on a mother-daughter walk, meal or shopping trip. Mazzarese shared a magazine article on the topic, “to encourage my daughter to educate herself.” (She also keeps after her nieces and other sisters to be heart healthy.)

Be an appointment buddy

Parkansky’s cholesterol and blood pressure readings were “perfect” at her last checkup, but she’s due for another. “Because she’s so busy, I offered to schedule the appointment for her,” Mazzarese says. Young women should get their first cholesterol test at age 20, Sundlof says, and women of all ages need testing at least every five years (more often if cholesterol is high). “Whether you’re the mother or daughter,” she says, “you can be a good role model.”

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