Sandra Revill Tremulis was a healthy 39-year-old who taught fitness classes and had recently run a marathon when extreme fatigue and chest tingling drove her to see a cardiologist. The doctor discovered she had 95% blockage in one of her coronary arteries and that a heart attack was imminent. And though her own father had died of a heart attack at 50, she was blindsided, believing she was “doing everything right” to stay healthy.
Further bloodwork revealed the culprit: high levels of a particle called lipoprotein(a) in her arteries. That wake-up call, in 2003, prompted her to become an expert on the condition, starting a nonprofit foundation dedicated to research and education (though it dissolved in 2020).
