This lady told me a story the other day and I am going to share it with you.  We’ll call her Gladys, not her real name,  and she was sitting at home relaxing one evening and suddenly felt short of breath, like someone was sitting on her chest. Next thing she was seeing black spots in front of her eyes and felt faint, the chest tightening became much stronger and she knew she was in deep trouble so she called 000.  The ambo’s turned up pretty smartly and Gladys tried to get to her front gate to unlock it and let them in but she was so out of breath out she just couldn’t make it – so she slipped the keys into her dog’s mouth and asked him to deliver them to the ambo’s – and the dog did just that, they opened the gate, whisked her off to hospital and she lived to tell the tale.

So why am I telling you this story?

Mostly because it’s just a bloody good story and needs to be told but otherwise just to raise the issue of heart disease and how common it is in our community.  It’s the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Men and Women Australia wide  and in the NT it accounts for about one third of the 20 year gap in life expectancy.

 

Smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol  and high blood pressure are at the root of it all.

 

So if you are looking for a reason to give up the smokes think of Gladys and her dog – or keep on smoking and train up your own pooch.