Susan Lucci 'lucky to be alive' after emergency heart surgery

Susan Lucci is opening up about the emergency heart surgery she had last fall that may very well have saved her life.

The longtime "All My Children" star tells People magazine that she experienced shortness of breath three times last fall. She brushed off the first two instances, but the third time took place while she was shopping in Manhasset, New York and was so severe that she said, "It felt like an elephant pressing down on my chest."

Lucci was whisked to an emergency room, where a CT scan revealed she was having a heart attack, often referred to as a "widowmaker." There was a 90 percent blockage in her heart's main artery and a 70 percent blockage in another area, as well.

"Ninety percent blockage — I was shocked," Lucci says. "I'm lucky to be alive."

Her cardiologist, Holly Andersen, echoed that sentiment. "Had she gone home, that 90 percent blockage could have become 100 percent and she could have suffered a significant heart attack or even sudden death," she said.

At the hospital, Lucci had a pair of stents put into her arteries to increase blood flow back to the heart.

The procedure worked wonders for the Emmy Award-winning actress. "She has no damage," says Dr. Richard Shlofmitz, who performed the surgery. "Her heart is pumping as good as when she was born."

Lucci, 72, is now using her experience to educate others, which is particularly timely since February is American Heart Health Month. "I'm not a nurse or anyone who can help in any real way," she says. "This is the way I can help. I can tell my story. Everyone's symptoms are different but I felt compelled to share mine. Even if it's one person I help. That is someone's life."

The actress, who follows a Mediterranean diet to stay healthy, wants women to know they can have heart attacks, even though it may not be one of the health risks that come to mind for them.

"As a woman you think about breast cancer, not a heart attack," Lucci says. "Every EKG I had was great. My blood pressure was on the lower end of normal."

Lucci was susceptible to a heart attack because heart disease runs in her family. "Her risk was due to her father's arteriosclerosis, a condition that causes plaque buildup, which can cause blockage and hardening (or calcification) of the arteries," Andersen says.

Lucci has now signed on to serve as a spokesperson for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign. The movement works to raise awareness about heart disease, a condition that kills approximately 400,000 women each year.

"We often put ourselves on the back burner," Lucci says. "But if your body is telling you something, [you] need to pay attention."