Shortness of breath. Light headedness. Dry cough. Constant tiredness. A heartbeat so rapid you could see her shirt pulsating.
LaTonya Porter-Yost, 42, knew something wasn’t right around this time last year when she started experiencing those symptoms. N’Co, her 9-year-old son, said his mother started closing her eyes and holding her chest a lot, even when just sitting on the couch.
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LaTonya Porter-Yost stands in the kitchen of her home for a portrait Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Porter-Yost, the sole provider for her family, received help from United Way after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition which forced her to leave work.
Eventually, she went to the doctor and got the diagnosis: active congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy. Porter-Yost quit her job as an attendant at a nursing home because she has to continuously monitor her heart rate. Now she goes back and forth to Vanderbilt for treatment.
“It’s almost as if my whole body has been separated from my mind,” Porter-Yost said. “Because my mind is wanting to do what I used to do. And my body is telling me, ‘No, you can’t do this anymore.’ So it’s like being without all of me.”