2026 Go Red for Women Class of Survivors: Katie Moegenberg

Katie Moegenberg was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol as a teen. She took medication and was later told her health problems were caused by anxiety despite having a family history of heart disease. At 37, she had a heart attack and open-heart surgery. Now, she makes healthier choices and advocates for her family.

Katie Moegenberg was a high school sophomore when she volunteered to have her blood pressure measured during a class demonstration. It was high, so she and her parents had it checked by her doctor. At 15, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

“We just chalked it up to my very strong family history of heart disease,” Katie said.

She was given medication and saw a doctor regularly, but she wasn’t bothered by her health.

“As a teenage girl, I didn’t really think too much of it,” she said. “I kind of thought I was invincible. It was never really a big part of my day-to-day life thinking.”

When she had terrible anxiety during college and nursing school, her doctors never put high blood pressure at the forefront of her medical issues.

“It was always, ‘You just have anxiety, you have heartburn, you have acid reflux,’” she said.

During her two pregnancies when she was in her 20s, Katie was labeled high risk because she had preeclampsia, a serious medical condition caused by persistent high blood pressure. As a result, she needed emergency cesarean sections for both deliveries. After she gave birth, she was told she would be fine. For years, she stayed busy working and raising her kids. But she continued to feel persistent symptoms of being physically tense with burning in her shoulders and neck.

Then at 37, Katie was having chest pain and shortness of breath. She went to her primary care doctor, who said her electrocardiogram was normal and sent her home with a prescription for heartburn.

“Two days later I woke up, and I knew there’s no way this is heartburn,” Katie said. “Something wasn’t right. Something more serious was going on.”

That day she saw her cardiologist who did a stress test and discovered that Katie had a 100% blocked artery. He sent Katie straight to the hospital, where an attempted cardiac catheterization was unsuccessful. She had emergency open-heart surgery for a double bypass on March 11, 2020.

“I literally woke up from surgery and the whole world had changed overnight,” Katie said. “The hospital began COVID-19 restrictions that day, which meant I wasn’t allowed to have visitors. My family couldn’t be with me. I became very close with my doctors and the hospital staff because they were all I had while I was there.”

Even after discharge, new social distancing rules impacted her recovery. She could not attend cardiac rehab, her doctors’ visits were done over Zoom calls and nurses could not come to her home.

“My recovery was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever been through emotionally and physically,” she said. “Plus, I had a lot of survivor’s guilt. A lot of people in my family and people that I know have not been as lucky.”

Her paternal grandfather died from a heart attack at 38, and her uncle had his first heart attack at 25 and died at 52 when he had a heart attack three weeks after Katie.

The experiences motivated Katie to make changes in her life.

“I had a lot of hard feelings toward myself because I hadn’t led the healthiest lifestyle,” she said, recalling years of smoking and regret over not prioritizing her heart health. “I felt like I could have prevented it and not put myself and my loved ones through what we had to go through.”

Now 43, Katie is committed to changing her family’s legacy. She sets a good example for them by prioritizing her health. Both of her children are monitored by cardiologists and heart health is a frequent topic of conversation with them.

“I am blessed with a very supportive family,” she said. “I’ve been very proactive with my children to make sure that they don’t have to go through the same things that I went through. They are well aware of their family history and how strong it is. They saw it firsthand with me.”

She now gives that motherly guidance to others.

“My heart journey has given me purpose,” she said. “I use my story to remind women to know their numbers, trust their instincts and never ignore what their bodies are trying to tell them. It could save their life.”

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