Women and cardiovascular disease: I was fit and healthy - and had a heart attack at 46

Though a leading cause of death among females, cardiovascular disease is still seen mainly as a male health issue. The lack of awareness means women can delay seeking help 

Nichola Wilson-Miller, who had a heart attack at 46

Nichola Wilson-Miller, a 48-year-old business coach and mother from Dunmanway in Cork, was 46 years old when she had a heart attack in 2020. Having joined the Royal Navy after school and spent her life being fit and active, she could not believe what was happening to her.

"I worked out four or five times a week and had a fit and healthy body that could keep going all day," she says. "How could I have a heart attack? Such things didn't happen to people like me."