2026 Go Red for Women Class of Survivors: Lori Sepich

Lori Sepich was diagnosed with high blood pressure at 17. After suffering two heart attacks, she still lived in a state of denial until she went to a Go Red for Women luncheon that changed everything.

Lori Sepich was 17 when she was diagnosed with extremely high blood pressure. She didn’t realize the health implications and was more interested in her upcoming senior year. During her 20s and 30s, she would sometimes skip taking her medicine and began smoking.

At 34, Lori was at the doctor’s office with blood pressure so high it was in stroke territory. The doctor gave her a choice: Take medicine to lower it or go to the emergency room. Lori spent 4 hours lying in a dark exam room taking medicine until her blood pressure came down.

“This doctor kind of brought me to my knees that day as he called me out as a liar when I said I was taking the medication,” she said, “and really sat me down and talked to me about what high blood pressure means, and what it means as far as having a stroke, and what a stroke would involve.”

Lori was mad at herself and vowed to take her health more seriously.

Then came Easter morning when Lori was 43. She woke up with extreme chest pressure, pain radiating down her arms and nausea.

“I knew it was a heart attack. I knew it was, but I wasn’t going to do anything about it because I was in complete denial,” she said. “I absolutely lay across my bed and rode out this pain till it eased up. I absolutely just prayed to God that I would stay alive.”

Lori made it to Mass and a family luncheon. She didn’t tell anyone what had happened.

At work the next day, the pain continued. Lori called her doctor’s office, and they told her to go to the ER. She followed the advice but not before going home to change into a matching tracksuit, shave her legs and watch “The Young and the Restless.”

Lori then drove herself to the hospital, smoking what she vowed would be her last cigarette. Once inside, they took her back immediately when she mentioned heart attack. They asked her if she smoked. Lori told them she quit. When asked when, Lori said, “about 5 minutes ago when I walked in this door.”

Lori was indeed having a heart attack. A cardiologist placed six stents in her arteries. She survived despite the fear she would end up like her brother, who died of a massive heart attack at 38.

“I came out physically and emotionally in a very dark place, and the emotional part of it just kept getting darker,” she said.

Lori told her cardiologist, who assured her it was common and got her help.

Fast forward 13 years, and Lori experienced chest pain again. This time she was six weeks into a new job and feared being fired. She went to the cardiologist, who scheduled a cardiac catheterization to look at the inner workings of her heart. He found an almost complete blockage in Lori’s left anterior descending artery. Again, she got a stent.

Four months later, Lori reluctantly attended a Go Red for Women luncheon her company was sponsoring. She deliberately wore turquoise. When she walked in and saw a sea of red, it took her breath away. She listened to the first survivor story and realized it was also her story, a story she hadn’t accepted.

“That day was very emotional for me, and it absolutely changed my life,” said Lori, now 64. “It brought me out of a state of denial that I had been in for 47-plus years, because at that luncheon, I felt community. I felt support, empowerment, and I felt strength.”

The next day, Lori reached out to her local American Heart Association chapter in Memphis, Tennessee, where she shared her story of how the luncheon changed her life. She has been volunteering for six years now.

“I've come a long way,” she said. “It's OK to have this and to speak about it proudly and be proud of a journey of survival.”

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