On Christmas Eve, increasing nausea, cold sweats and a very slight pressure on his chest drove Vaughn to seek out the local hospital's emergency room. Diagnosed with pneumonia, he was given an antibiotic and sent home. The antibiotic did indeed help reduce the symptoms, but four days later, Vaughn died of a massive coronary.
This story is true. This story, or ones much like it, is repeated hundreds of thousands times every year. According to the American Heart Association (Dallas), cardiovascular disease (CVD) kills over 930,000 Americans each year and was the cause of 38.5% of all deaths in 2001 (with more women than men dying of the disease in every year since 1984). Its economic toll is estimated to be $368.4 billion in 2004. Costs include healthcare and lost wages…but not a child's missed educational opportunities or the hardship visited upon friends and families left behind.