June 3, 2024 – In July, the Hopkins County Health Care Foundation is offering sixty free heart calcium scans to Hopkins County men meeting certain criteria. The Foundation’s board of directors would like to raise local awareness of the importance of this scan.
The story of Hopkins County native and resident Missy Caddell is one of triumph. It only has a happy ending because she took her doctor’s advice and got a heart calcium scan, also known as a coronary artery calcium test.
You may know Missy from her years of service in education. She retired from Raines ISD as a school counselor and now works part-time in Winnsboro ISD. She has been married to Alan Caddell for 42 years. They have two grown children: daughter Lyndsi White, son-in-law Randy, son Logan, and daughter-in-law Brandy. She has six grandchildren that keep her busy attending their activities. Missy is a graduate of Como-Pickton ISD.
Missy had a pretty healthy lifestyle. She kickboxed three times a week, stayed active with work, travel, and family, and had a healthy diet.
But things changed in February 2020. With a slight elevation in her cholesterol, Missy’s doctor advised her to get a heart calcium scan. The scan came back with a score of 499, which indicated there was a substantial amount of plaque in her coronary arteries.
She was then prescribed a statin and referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist described her EKG as highly irregular. He then followed up with a stress test. The results were so bad that the radiologist went down the hall to show them to the doctor. He advised Missy and Alan that Missy needed a couple of stents.
After starting the stent operation, the doctor quickly realized Missy needed a bypass. Missy and her family scheduled the surgery for the week before spring break to give her plenty of time to heal.
She ended up having a quadruple bypass and learned that she had had a heart attack before the heart calcium test and didn’t know it. She never felt bad or had chest pain or shortness of breath. Her condition had gone on so long that her arteries were naturally creating their own bypass. Missy insists that she is alive today because of the heart calcium scan.
“I know I wouldn’t have kept going through tests to find out why my cholesterol was elevated,” said Missy.
Since this experience, Missy has become an advocate for heart calcium tests. Since it is fast, pain-free, and inexpensive, and, since she was symptom-free, she recommends it to anyone with or without symptoms.
Missy shared, “I tell everyone, don’t wait until it hurts. I never felt bad.” She also emphasized, “Don’t wait until it is too late.”
The Foundation would like to thank Missy for sharing her experience. Missy and the Foundation hope that her story will encourage readers to have a heart calcium test if their doctor recommends it or if they have any risk factors for heart disease.
Free heart calcium tests are being offered by the Foundation to Hopkins County men between the ages of 40-60 with one or more of the following: obesity, current smoker, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or family history of heart disease. Eligible men should call 903-438-4040 to secure an appointment.
Those interested in having a test but not eligible for the free scans may want to consider investing $75 at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs for the scan. It is non-invasive, only takes 10 minutes for the scan, and provides results quickly. As Missy said, “All I had to do was take my necklace off!”
