ÌÇÐÄVlog

As academic director for Duke University's corporate education business, Cheryl Stokes traveled the globe. Doing so while 4 months pregnant meant enduring more discomfort than usual.

While returning home from a work trip, she felt a few contractions. But she was more concerned about her mother, Myrtle Bell, who was recovering from a stroke after already dealing with congestive heart failure.

Still, Cheryl went to the doctor, who ordered her to immediately go on bed rest.

Cheryl thought the doctor was overreacting. She knew she was overweight and, at 39 years old, hers was considered a high-risk geriatric pregnancy. But she had never had any major health problems.

Now, though, her blood pressure was trending upward, putting her at risk of preeclampsia. It's a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication related to high blood pressure that increases the likelihood of heart problems, particularly in women with obesity.

Cheryl accepted being off her feet. She could continue working, though – right?

"You need to settle down," the doctor told her. "You can be on bed rest at home and not work, or you can be in the hospital."

For the remaining months of her pregnancy, Cheryl obliged, indulging in her love of game shows at home in Wake Forest, North Carolina. She even applied to be a contestant on several.

Cheryl's obstetrician scheduled for her labor to be induced in the same hospital where her mother was being treated. On that day, the baby wouldn't budge. After 24 hours of labor, and with her blood pressure skyrocketing, she delivered the baby by cesarean section.

Preston Joshua, who his family calls PJoshua, was born healthy. Cheryl's mother was wheeled over from the rehabilitation unit to see her newborn grandson before Cheryl went home, exhausted, with the baby the next day.

Since it was her first child, Cheryl didn't know how she was supposed to feel. It made sense to be so tired after a C-section and to have trouble getting up and down the stairs. But her skin was pale. And her sister-in-law, Sheila Foxx, could hear Cheryl breathing in the kitchen all the way from the den.

"That is not normal," Foxx told her. "Something's wrong. Call your doctor."

Her husband, Preston, rushed Cheryl to the hospital. Tests showed her heart function had dropped to 25%, meaning that she was in congestive heart failure. The cause was peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare condition in which the heart muscle weakens during or right after pregnancy. Her doctor suspected a contributing factor was preeclampsia.

No one in the family had heard of peripartum cardiomyopathy. When they heard the term "heart failure," they thought of Cheryl's mother, not this new mother.

"Congestive heart failure? You've got to be kidding," Preston said of what he thought at the time. "This young lady here?"

Cheryl spent several days in the hospital. In the calm moments, she marveled at the fact she was taking the same medication – and the same dose of it – as her mother.

Doctors also put her on a diuretic to help her shed excess fluid. Overnight, Cheryl lost about 30 pounds in water weight.

The first several months back home were difficult. Cheryl was told she couldn't lift anything heavier than 5 pounds. That meant not picking up PJoshua, even while trying to nurse him.

Actually, nursing was a concern, too. Her cardiologist couldn't guarantee that the medications would be safe for PJoshua and told her he would monitor things closely.

After a few months, her blood pressure was brought under control. She was allowed to go back to work. She was able to start exercising. And when the baby was 5 months old, she was well enough to appear on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." She won $50,000.

Now, 19 years later, PJoshua is in college, and Cheryl and Preston are helping to raise Preston's 16-year-old grandson.

Cheryl, 57, is the CEO of a leadership development business that helps large companies develop inclusive leadership pipelines. She continues controlling her blood pressure with the help of medicine, though she's proud to note that it requires a lower dose. It's likely a byproduct of watching her diet and exercising more regularly. She's down about 125 pounds since her ordeal.

She's also been on more game shows. She won another $50,000 on "Wheel of Fortune" and competed on "The Chase."

Cheryl also has a better understanding of what happened.

Age was not the only risk factor in her pregnancy. Her weight at the time and her family history of high blood pressure and diabetes were bigger red flags than she realized. That's why she now uses her experience to encourage women, particularly women of various racial and ethnic backgrounds, to take better care of themselves.

Research has shown that Black women have a disproportionately higher risk of uncontrolled high blood pressure, which can complicate pregnancy.

"It made it even more important to me to share my story so that other women, particularly women of color, could see that," Cheryl said. "We take care of everybody else. We've got to take care of ourselves.

"It's not selfish. Self-care is not selfish."

Stories From the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.