Published: July 30, 2025
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Tammy Meffert was living a busy, full life with her husband and four children when she started noticing subtle but unusual symptoms. She found herself short of breath while doing everyday tasks — even walking up the stairs left her winded. Active and otherwise healthy, she brushed it off.
Then came a day when exhaustion hit her hard. She struggled to catch her breath, and her body felt drained. Her husband, alarmed by her condition, insisted she go to the emergency room.
At Norton Brownsboro Hospital, Tammy underwent extensive testing. The diagnosis came as a shock: She was in advanced heart failure, and her heart was functioning at just 23% capacity.
“I remember asking my provider, Natalie, through tears, ‘Am I going to die?’” Tammy said. “She hugged me and told me the team at Norton Heart & Vascular Institute would do everything possible to save my life.”
“Heart disease is the No.1 killer of women, yet too often the warning signs go unnoticed,” said Natalie K. Kendall, APRN, nurse practitioner with the Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Advanced Heart Failure & Recovery Program. “Our goal is to change that by educating, treating and empowering women like Tammy.”
While heart disease is often thought of as a men’s issue, it’s the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. Many women, like Tammy, don’t recognize the symptoms or believe they’re at risk — until it’s nearly too late.
Tammy spent several days in the hospital, closely monitored, while the heart failure team developed a personalized treatment plan. Along with medication, she needed to adopt lifestyle changes to support her recovery. The care didn’t stop when she left the hospital. The Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Advanced Heart Failure & Recovery Program remained by her side — offering follow-up appointments, support calls and a direct line to heart failure specialists who knew her case inside and out.
“They treated me like family,” Tammy said. “I could call them anytime with questions or concerns, and they were always there for me with compassion and the best care.”
Today, Tammy’s heart is functioning at normal capacity — a remarkable and lifesaving improvement. She’s back to traveling, working full time and enjoying life with her husband and children.
Natalie knows that Tammy is just one example of what the team at Norton Heart & Vascular Institute can do.
“Heart failure recovery is possible. Our team proves it every day,” Natalie said. “We recover more than 60% of heart failure cases with medication when we can treat it early, whereas the national benchmark is only 10%.”
Beyond medication, even patients with advanced heart failure are finding they can recover enough to return to everyday activities, through ventricular assist devices that often make heart transplants unnecessary. The Norton Heart & Vascular Institute Advanced Heart Failure & Recovery Program offers a variety of treatment options based on a patient’s needs.
“I have a second chance,” Tammy said. “I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t gone to the hospital. I want people — especially women — to take their heart health seriously. If I can help save one person’s life by sharing my story, everything I went through will have been worth it.”
Now that Tammy is back at work, caring for her family members and travelling with her husband, next up is a bucket-list visit to Washington D.C. She plans to walk the entire city, take in historic sites and enjoy her time using her newfound strength.