Cecilia: I would have never thought in a million years that I had high triglycerides. Look at me, I work out, I don't drink, I don't smoke. Most of us look normal. There is no sign of anything being wrong. But deep down in our bodies, you know, the triglycerides are consuming us. Frank: It came out of the blue. Before that, I was almost normal, and I was a little bit high. And then all of a sudden, I was up into the five hundreds. Above 500 is really a level that they really worry about. And I'm like, what am I doing wrong?
Jared: My doctor told me initially that it was a major red flag.
Cecilia: I was on a trip in Puerto Rico with my family, came back from my vacation, and the next thing you know, I collapsed. I was taken immediately to the emergency room, and I was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis due to high triglycerides. The stay in the hospital was pretty intense. You go through the motions when you're conscious, obviously, of, you know, trying to figure out, you know, is this it? Am I going to die?
Michael: The doctor told me that he had patients actually die from pancreatitis. So he was like, this is life threatening if it gets out of hand. We got to get a handle on this and get your numbers down.
Frank: I had a major stroke where I was walking down my steps and I was home alone, and I passed out. I couldn't move my left side, so I had to learn to walk again. I had to learn to speak again. And that was so scary.
Michael: You kind of think in your head, you know, it's like, am I going to end up in the hospital today?
Jared: It doesn't necessarily have a certain look. It doesn't have a certain identity. You can't necessarily look at a person and be like, hey, I think that person there has high triglycerides.
Cecilia: I want others to know that one. You're not alone. We're rooting for you, the ones who have lived it. We're still living. We're still fighting. And I want to give that hope to the people that are coming behind me. There will be something better. And eventually this, I hope, will be a thing of the past.
