2026 Go Red for Women Class of Survivors: Anjellica Davis

Two months after delivering a healthy baby, Anjellica Davis started having shortness of breath and chest pains. She had postpartum cardiomyopathy and needed a heart transplant. She is now studying to become a nurse and raises awareness about the heart issues that new moms face.

Anjellica Davis had an easy pregnancy and delivery of her third son in May 2022. But two months later, she started having intense shortness of breath, uncomfortable “drowning” feelings and gurgling in her chest when she lay flat.

“I knew postpartum fatigue was normal, but this time it was very different,” said Anjellica, who was 34 at the time. “One day I was on the phone with my son’s grandmother who heard my labored breathing. She urged me to go to the hospital, and that call helped save my life.”

In the emergency room, she learned she had fluid in her heart from postpartum cardiomyopathy, a rare form of heart failure that can happen after childbirth. She had never heard of the condition and was assured that it would improve with a proper diet and exercise. After months of treatment and her best efforts, her health worsened.

That November, she was added to the transplant list and had a donor heart days later.

“I was a little naive because I didn’t know much about the transplant process,” she said. “But I was prepared to do whatever I had to do to be here for my kids.”

That focus is what motivated her to recover quickly after the transplant. She would even wake up at 2 a.m. to practicing walking four laps around the nurses station without losing her breath, one of the requirements for being discharged from the intensive care unit.

“You have to walk because they want to make sure that you’re able to move,” she said. “They want to make sure that your heart is doing what it’s supposed to do. I’m like, OK, let’s walk this lap. Let’s walk two, let’s walk three. I actually got out of ICU about a week early. I was so determined.”

In addition to improving physically, she also was focused on helping others.

“Another part of my recovery was actually education,” she said. “I feel it is my mission to educate women about heart health because I want to make sure no one experiences what I experienced.”

Her mission, she said, is also personal because she knows of another young mom in her community who died from postpartum cardiomyopathy.

“She didn’t have anyone to tell her, ‘Hey, this is what you need to look out for, these are the symptoms, these are the signs,’” Anjellica said. “That’s really unacceptable because women bring life into this world, so we should be heard a little bit more. We should be well educated about our bodies.”

Now 37, Anjellica is studying to be a nurse and advocates for women to do their own research, ask questions and make heart health a priority.

“Listen to your body, because women don’t do that a lot,” she said. “We get caught up in being a mom, a wife, a caregiver. I have to take care of myself first so I can be there for everyone else.”

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