It’s probably not all that often that you can say “Miss America is just like you.” But, if 28-year-old D.C. resident Jude Mabone wins the crown next weekend, about 125 million other Americans will be able to say they’re just like her.
You see, Mabone suffers from heart disease.
In fact, Mabone’s first heart attack came when she was 16 years old and running for her high school track team.
By the time she was 18, she’d suffered six more heart attacks. Heart issues kept her from passing medical tests after she was accepted into the Naval Academy, but didn’t stop her from running cross country at American University.
And now she’s competing for Miss America.
As she holds the crown for being Miss America D.C., Mabone is also hoping to raise awareness about the importance of knowing CPR and how to use an AED.
“It’s definitely a little weird,” Mabone said. “But I will say that sudden cardiac arrest is the number one killer of people under the age of 25. So while we think about heart disease as being something that doesn’t affect younger people, it’s not an anomaly to see it impacting people my age and even younger.”
Mabone teamed up with MedStar Health to do CPR awareness videos.
Because she knows American Sign Language, her video also includes her using ASL to reach the deaf community.
“The more people are exposed to it, the more confident they feel in themselves in their ability to do it,” Mabone said.
“Sometimes the problem is people do know CPR but they don’t think that they can really do it, so they don’t act. And that’s scary, too. So getting people really comfortable, and aware, and knowledgeable about it is really important to me.”
Mabone opens up about her diagnosis
While Mabone doesn’t know how she got heart disease so young — it’s not something that runs in her family — she’s also advocating for early screening. And she hopes to destigmatize heart disease as well.
“When all this happened to me when I was 16, I was so embarrassed. I did not tell anybody,” she confessed. “My teachers didn’t know why I wasn’t at school, my friends didn’t know, my teammates didn’t know… I was so ashamed because there is this belief that heart disease is a symptom — because you did something wrong.”
“But the reality is, for me, and for so many people, that’s not the case. I’m one of 125.5 million people who are living with this disease. But I am not what you think of when you think of what heart disease is. And that is exactly why we have to continue to talk about it. Because it’s not always decision making on your part that leads to this.”
Mabone’s cardiologists at MedStar Health are thrilled to be working with her and hope the message resonates with others.
“A lot of my patients, they think that it’s an older woman’s disease, and they’re therefore dismissing some of their symptoms that they can have that is heart disease,” said Dr. Estelle Jean, a cardiologist with MedStar Health.
She also said younger patients will sometimes fail to advocate for themselves as strongly as they should when they think something might be wrong. “The key is, it can be you, even if you’re not older. Heart disease can impact younger patients… if this first provider doesn’t believe you find another provider until you’re in the appropriate care.”
Jean said the unfortunate reality is heart disease is becoming a younger person’s problem too.
“Younger patients are at increased risk for sudden cardiac death due to potentially undiagnosed conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, that condition has been in the news, or electrical heart rhythm abnormalities, or problem with the arteries itself,” Jean said. “If you’re having symptoms, and you’re young, you should not dismiss your symptoms.”
“We’re seeing higher heart attack rates in the younger population from 35 to 54,” she added. “And that’s because of increased usage of smoking products, higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors. So don’t dismiss your symptoms if you feel something’s not right.”
Now if you think of heart attacks as being an automatic death sentence — and yes obviously they can be fatal — Mabone is proof that it doesn’t mean your life is over.
“I thought that my life was ending,” she said. “But for me, it was actually the beginning of a newer, fresher perspective on life. And so for anybody who’s already living with this disease, I think it’s really important that we continue to talk about it, we continue to advocate for ourselves, advocate for the people that we’ve lost, advocate for the people who will get diagnosed in the future and to try to make this disease something that is not stigmatized, something that’s not scary, something that we’re not embarrassed about anymore.”
On to Miss America
It’ll be a whirlwind week coming up for Mabone.
She leaves for the pageant in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday morning and begins various meetings and events related to the Miss America pageant on Sunday (she’ll sing opera for the talent aspect of the competition).
The pageant culminates with the crowning of the next Miss America next Sunday, Jan. 14.
If all goes in Mabone’s favor, the D.C. pageant winner will be able to bring even more awareness to a disease that’s so prevalent in society.
“Obviously I have 365 days with the crown to make my impact, so I’m not going to eradicate the U.S. of heart disease in that time,” she admitted.
For now, she said, she’ll continue to use her platform to improve awareness of critical first aid.
“I was looking for a tangible way to make a difference and really impact people with heart health. So CPR and AED is an easy way to help people protect hearts and save lives.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Jude Mabone’s last name. We regret the error.
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