自从她母亲53岁死于心脏病之后, health and fitness are her priorities

Sarah Steinsiek在阿肯色州的一个小镇上看着她的母亲长大, Ruthie Hare, 参加各种健身团体. 露丝天生苗条，特别喜欢健美操和健美操.

她还有另一个动机. She knew it would help ward off the heart disease that had plagued nearly every member of her family.

然而，有一个健康的步骤她不能走. 露丝不顾吸烟的危险，继续吸烟.

One day when Sarah was 8 and her brother, TJ, was 6, Ruthie said she didn't feel well. 她的手臂和胸部疼痛. She lowered herself into a recliner, hoping the sensations would go away.

When they didn't, she recognized the symptoms experienced by her parents and several siblings. 她告诉她的孩子们:“我想我心脏病发作了."

Sarah called 911.

她的母亲确实是心脏病发作了. She was 39.

从那以后，露丝努力改善自己的健康状况. She started to focus more on nutrition, stopped drinking and did her best to give up cigarettes. 她尝试了戒烟计划、药物、贴片和催眠. 它们都起作用了，但只是暂时的.

她还出现了其他健康问题:胃肠道问题, circulatory problems, 纤维肌痛和外周动脉疾病, where fatty deposits and calcium build up in the walls of the arteries.

As much as Sarah feared for her mother's health, she started smoking at age 14. 作为一个胖乎乎的孩子，她认为这有助于减轻体重. 她还想让自己看起来很酷，和学校里的朋友们打成一片.

像她妈妈一样，萨拉也成了有氧运动的爱好者. While her mom did it mostly for heart health, Sarah's motivation was keeping her weight down. 她想变瘦，这对她来说意味着迷人. 她定期跑步并计算卡路里.

莎拉继续抽烟，她妈妈终于彻底戒了. 但她的健康状况一直没有好转. 她开始出现血栓和轻微中风.

In December 2014, Ruthie died from a coronary embolism, a blood clot in her heart. She was 53.

That week, Sarah, then 23 and sick with grief, smoked a carton of cigarettes, twice her usual amount.

A few months later, 莎拉也有自己的健康问题, 包括高血压和心率过快. 医生认为这可能与压力有关.

Maybe, Sarah thought. But maybe it was also her body's way of telling her to clean up her lifestyle. That, she knew, would be the best way to honor her mother, a beautiful soul and a loving mom.

现年33岁的莎拉已经取得了很大的进步.

她戒烟了，虽然戒烟并不容易. Now living in Calhoun, Louisiana, she's a district training manager at a large retail chain. She's especially proud of being smoke-free because about half the people she's around are smokers.

她对自己的身体也变得更自在了.

While maintaining a strict diet helped her lose 60 pounds and improved her cholesterol and blood pressure, 她知道这个计划是不可持续的. However, she became so interested in nutrition that she began studying it formally. 她希望获得这方面的学位.

“我是为了自己的利益才这么做的, 也是为了有一天我可以用我的训练来帮助别人," she said.

She also started working with a personal trainer to work on her strength and mobility. Her favorite activity is hiking, especially in the Arkansas mountains.

Sarah's brother, TJ, calls his sister "a role model and an inspiration.他和同父异母的哥哥科里住在圣安东尼奥. They're both trying to quit smoking and keep active by shooting hoops.

Corey, 谁有不同的母亲, is impressed that Sarah's lifestyle change "seems less about her weight and more about how it makes her heart healthy, 让她的大脑健康，让她感觉更好."

Every year since her mom passed, Sarah has commemorated her mom's birthday in a special way. 她把3月19日这一天称为“露丝日”."

“我总是让每个人随机做一个, 无私的善举, 就像我妈妈每天做的那样," she said. "Like she always said, we never know what each person is going through."

And now that she's cleaned up her lifestyle, Sarah hopes to enjoy many more Ruthie Days.

"I want to see my friends and families grow up and see their children grow up," she said. "I want to do and see as much as I can on this beautiful earth for as long as I can. I know all too well that I only have one life, and I want to take care of it."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.