“When Jordan was in elementary school, she raised over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. It was through the Jump Rope for Heart activity. She was the top fundraiser in her school. Based on that, and as someone who shows initiative and good character, she was nominated as a Teen of Impact for our area.

“She’s competing with seven other kids in the Houston area. She gets to run her own campaign. She picked team members, like family and friends, and she’ll be doing events and asking for donations to support the American Heart Association.

“It’s important to her and to our family. My dad had a stroke and then open-heart surgery before he passed. His brother, my uncle, died in his sleep from heart disease. They were both pretty young, still in their 50s. So we have a history of that in our family, and that kind of encouraged Jordan to want to raise money in memory of her papa, David Mourer, and her uncle, Chris.

“It’s also an opportunity for her to do something that a lot of kids her age don’t get to do. She’s 13 and is in seventh grade at Cedar Bayou. And she’s very excited to be doing something that kind of feels adult. Something that can really make a difference in people’s lives.”

— Abbey Mourer

Jordan is active in theater at school, and enjoys playing softball and doing crafts. If you would like to support her campaign, learn more on her Teen of Impact page.

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“I started having this pain in my breast. It was getting really bad. When I went to the doctor and she felt the lump, she said, ‘You need to get tests done right now.’ I learned that when the radiologist comes out to talk with you after the mammogram, it’s something bad.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2012. The first time I went to MD Anderson for blood work, one of the ladies said, ‘You have the Cadillac of breast cancers.’ I had the HER2-positive. I had the ER/PR-negative. Everything that could make it worse, I had. They said if I had walked in there five years prior, I probably would have had zero percent chance to live.”

There was chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy, followed by more chemo. With support from family and friends, she made it through. Only to face another health scare, which at first she thought was severe acid reflux from the chemo.

“I was out Ubering on a Sunday, and one of the ladies I picked up said, ‘Mam, you don’t look good.’ I said, ‘I don’t feel good.’ By the time I drove to the hospital, my chest was really hurting. They took me to the back for an EKG. The doctor standing outside the room said, ‘You’re having a heart attack.’ There were nurses all around me, one trying to put in IVs. I was all alone. I was crying, and was like, ‘Please don’t let me die.’ One of the nurses asked, ‘Do you want me to call a priest?’ My dad had died of a massive heart attack at 34. He was so young. That kept going through my head. It ended up that I had 100% blockage, so they put in stents.

“Having gone through all of this, and so many other challenges in life, I feel so fortunate to be here today doing what I love to do most: cook. This is where I’m meant to be.”

— Sarah Wright

Sarah and her husband, Tyrrell, run Sarah’s Restaurant, 3321 Market in Baytown.

Related:

• ‘I’m just so determined to make this a success’

• ‘Doctor said he was nothing but a miracle’

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“I’m 75 and retired. I’ve had a great life. I haven’t had any hard times really, except for getting polio when I was 6 years old. Wasn’t bad. I mean, my legs are crooked, but I can still walk. I’ve also had seven heart attacks, and I’ve got five stents in me. But let me tell you something. I know where I’m going when my time’s up. And I believe that I won’t have crooked legs when I get there.”

— Victor Earnest

The post Despite polio, heart attacks, ‘I’ve had a great life’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I got my first job when I was 4 years old. I delivered eggs for a penny a dozen. While growing up, I had a newspaper route. I was a caddy for two summers. I worked at a big department store. I worked at a sewage plant. I was a welder at age 14 at the Ford plant in Cleveland, Ohio. After joining the Air Force, I was a disc jockey at WVMI in Biloxi, Mississippi. When we went to Spain for three years, I built a radio station in my spare time. We beamed American music to the housing area about 25 miles away. The strong work ethic my mother instilled in me when I was young has kept me busy throughout my life.

“I have a 1919 Model T that I take to car shows. So I’m pretty active on the weekends. My wife says, ‘You should slow down.’ I say, ‘No.’ People ask me, ‘When are you going to retire?’ I say, ‘I’m not.’ What happens to a shark when it quits swimming? He just rolls over and dies. I’m not going to roll over and die. I’ve known too many guys who retired and became stagnant. All they do is sit in their chairs, watch TV and smoke cigarettes. They waste away and die.

“Now I did have a heart attack kind of sneak up and kick me in the butt in February. I’ve kind of slacked off here lately until I fully recover. But I’m not planning to stop any time soon.”

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“A friend of mine called and wanted me to go shopping with her. I was gone most of the day, while my husband was at home babysitting the grandkids. About 1:30 when they got picked up, everything was fine. Then I called him at 3, and he didn’t answer the phone.

“When I got home about 4, I found him sitting in his recliner. I thought he was asleep. I said, ‘I’m home,’ but he never responded. His eyes were closed. He looked normal. I thought he was just teasing me. But he was gone. He had died of a heart attack.

“We had been married for 40 years. Jimmy was a wonderful family man. His kids and his grandkids came first in everything.

“One of the lessons I learned from what happened is that you need to live each day because you never know what tomorrow might bring. I had no earthly idea that I would come home that day almost 10 years ago to find that my husband was gone.”

— Stella Bird Radle

At age 70 Stella keeps busy with family and friends, and she goes on occasional dates. “I’m not going to settle for just anyone. He needs to be extra special. He needs to be somebody I can love and who can love me. But I haven’t found that person yet.”

(Note: Stella passed away on April 4, 2024.)

Related:

• Teacher learns lesson from integration experience

The post Heart attack steals ‘wonderful’ family man appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was 38 when I had my first real serious heart attack. I was with a girlfriend, and we had just gotten back to my apartment. She gave me a hug, and all of a sudden my chest started hurting. It just felt horrible. I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, and my biceps swelled up to three times their normal size and almost ripped the sleeves out.

“She wanted to call an ambulance, but I talked her out of it. You know how it is. You don’t want to really admit that you’re having a heart attack.

“When I finally drove myself to the doctor, I told him that I thought it might be an allergic reaction to some honey I had been eating. He said, ‘I don’t think it’s the honey you’ve got to worry about.’

“It was a heart attack, and he wanted to put me in the hospital right away.”

— Chris Rickman

Related:

• Multiple heart attack victim can’t afford to retire

The post He tried to talk himself out of a heart attack appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I worked for Chevron for 21½ years, and then they fired me basically for using my insurance. They claimed it was for not following company procedures.

“I missed a lot of time because I had six heart attacks on the job. I’ve had 17 documented heart attacks. I’ve had seven stents. I’ve had a double bypass.

“After I lost my job, I collected cans along the side of the road for 14 months. I sold cars for 14 months. Then my girlfriend figured, well, he’s never going to make any more money, so she left me.

“I ended up getting a job as a security officer. I can’t afford to retire. I’m going to have to work until 75 or die.”

— Chris Rickman

Related:

• He tried to talk himself out of a heart attack

The post Multiple heart attack victim can’t afford to retire appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I had just gotten my passport and asked my mother to find my father, to let him know I was on my way to the Philippines to visit him. The last time I saw him, I was 5½.

“My mother had married a U.S. service member who adopted me, and we ended up in Florida. So I had been separated from my real father for 38 years. Then my mother told me that he had passed away. It was an aneurysm.

“I knew it was time to go back home and get reacquainted with my older brothers and sister. They told me my father’s last words were basically, ‘Find your brother and keep in touch with him.’ Now we’re all pretty close. We plan on going again this year.”

— Michael Dube

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“I was at home, and my husband had just come in from work. I didn’t feel like my normal self. All of a sudden I started sweating really bad, my left jaw starting hurting and my fingertips felt fuzzy. So I told him, ‘I think you need to get me to the hospital.’

“I had a heart attack, but I was only down for a couple months. My neighbor talked me into going to Curves. We do it six days a week, and I also do Zumba twice a week. It’s made me feel 100 percent better. I’ve maintained my weight and feel a lot stronger. I can get out and do a lot more stuff than I ever could have thought about doing before.”

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