Our Story

The Event

When Vicki Mascareño Nelson's body began shutting down on the afternoon of February 21, 2024, her brain did what any of our brains would do. It searched its file drawers for an explanation. It found nothing useful. What happened next is why HerSigns exists.

She felt a strange sensation move through her body, something that made her stop what she was doing. Then the middle of her chest ached with intense pain. Then her jaw felt like it was on fire.

What is Happening?

Her brain searched for answers. Her left arm wasn't in pain,  the symptom she associated with heart attacks, so it must be something she ate. She'd had a leftover Valentine's chocolate just before and assumed it was infused with something causing a reaction. She even wondered why her throat wasn't closing, the one sign of an allergic reaction her file drawers did recognize.

She made her way upstairs and told her son, "I ate some chocolate and I feel funny." Nothing about pain. Nothing about her chest. Just funny. She went to the bathroom, made herself vomit, took an antacid and Tylenol. The pain was so great by then that she crawled to her bedroom and knocked on the wall. Her son came in. She calmly said, "Call your Dad."

Her husband was walking through the front door as his son was calling. He came upstairs to find her hunched over on the floor, a sheet pulled over her head to shield herself from the pain. An hour had passed.

Over the next 20 minutes he tried to make her comfortable. The chest pain began to ease, but the jaw pain was relentless and she pressed ice against her face. She was exhausted, speaking slowly. Her husband Googled her symptoms and looked up at her. "It's either your TMJ or a heart attack." A heart attack never crossed her mind.

Delay in Care

They decided to call her brother, a paramedic EMT. Vicki was speaking slowly and breathlessly. He said to go to the ED. This was two hours since the event began because she didn't recognize what was happening to her own body. At the ED she told the registration staff she had chest pain and jaw pain. They immediately knew these were signs of heart attack in women and began the process for her to receive the care she needed. 

The Diagnosis

Her diagnosis was a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) which led to a heart attack. SCAD is a rare type of heart attack that mostly affects women. During her hospital stay and after CT scans of her upper and lower body, she was also diagnosed with fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD)  (What is FMD?). FMD is a rare disease that mostly occurs in women. 

A few months later, after a visit to the Texas Heart Institute, an FMD Registry site, she was also diagnosed with hypermobility Ehler’s Danlos (hEDS). With this new diagnosis Vicki was more determined to work hard to heal and follow her doctors’ recommendations. This included three months at cardiac rehabilitation where she made new friends, and bought a few colorful tracksuits to motivate herself and rehabilitate in style.

Trust your Body

After two years in her new body and learning more about women's cardiovascular disease and the gender disparities in diagnosis, Vicki still felt uneasy about the lack of awareness around her own heart attack symptoms. She had since learned that nausea, jaw pain, and chest pain are classic signs of heart attack in women and that cardiovascular disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined and yet only 44% of women recognize that cardiovascular disease is their greatest health threat (Source: American Heart Association). She wants other women to know their signs. The HerSigns app exists to fill those file drawers in our brains with symptom awareness before women need them.

Inspiration

On a Sunday morning in March of 2026, Vicki was inspired to consider a new way to help other women know their signs of heart attack. This led Vicki, her supportive family, and a village of wise women, including other heart attack survivors, clinicians, and advocates, to begin the HerSigns journey. She believes in the power of women, doing what they do best, caring and sharing with each other to save lives.

The HerSigns app provides shareable education content about female-specific symptoms, generates printable doctor-visit tools, and builds a community of women committed to spreading heart health awareness to the women they love. HerSigns is currently in pre-launch development. The waitlist is open at https://www.hersignsapp.com/joinus

Know your signs. Trust your body.