GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Susan Ford Bales was 53 and had no idea that she had heart disease, when one day she went into sudden cardiac arrest while exercising on an elliptical machine.
“I was extremely lucky,” said Bales, who spoke Tuesday, June 4, at the American Heart Association’s Heart Ball at the JW Marriott. “I was in the gym, and the top thoracic surgeon in Tulsa was walking up the steps, and so he shocked me back.”
After she was revived with an automated electronic defibrillator, Bales received a heart stent and a pacemaker.
Bales, the daughter of former President Gerald R. Ford, touched on her cardiac arrest in 2010 and her family’s history of heart disease in her talk at the association gala, which raises funds for research, community programs and education.
Speaking about her own health is a change of pace for Bales, who frequently promotes her mother, Betty Ford’s medical causes: breast cancer and substance abuse treatment.
In an interview before the event, Bales said she has no reluctance to share her story publicly; she just is more focused on sharing her parents’ stories.
“I will never fill my mother’s shoes,” she said. “My goal is to continue my parents’ legacy.”
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Betty Ford’s discussion about her breast cancer and her struggle with painkillers and alcoholism set an example of how to address other health issues, she said. She called candor and public awareness “our single greatest weapon in our battle against heart disease.”
Bales listed many ways the Ford family has been affected by heart disease. Betty Ford had coronary bypass surgery. Gerald Ford suffered from aortic stenosis, had a pacemaker implanted, and died of congestive heart failure. His mother suffered four heart attacks, the last of which was fatal. Cousins have had valve replacements, stents and ablations.
“Needless to say, the Ford family is all too familiar with heart disease,” she said.
“We also are blessed with my mother’s shining example of fighting health issues.”
Bales’ cardiac arrest was caused by ventricular fibrillation, the most serious cardiac rhythm disturbance, in which the lower chambers of the heart quiver and are unable to pump blood.
“It’s called the widow-maker,” she said.
Now looking back, she realizes she had experienced signs of angina in advance.
“I didn’t feel good. I thought I was fighting the flu,” she said. “And it was February, and it was cold.”
Her left shoulder was sore one day after she brought in a load of firewood. She chalked it up to tendinitis.
“I ignored (the symptoms),” she said. “I had an excuse for all of them.”
Bales spoke lovingly of her father, who died in December 2006 at the age of 93, and her mother, who died in July 2011 also at age 93. They were buried at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.
“Almost two years ago, Mom’s wish to be reunited with her boyfriend was granted,” she said. “Our sorrow at her passing is succeeded by our ever-present joy of having known and loved Betty and Jerry Ford.”
“The legacy of my parents did not fade to their tomb that is just a short walk from here. We take joy in knowing that they are reunited, having graced us with a legacy of love and candor that the people of Western Michigan and around the world will always be able to cherish.”
Bales called for a redoubling of efforts to identify causes and develop cures for heart disease.
“Jerry Ford and Betty Ford would have expected nothing less of us,” she said.
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