Olympic Gold Medalist, P.A.D. Coalition raise awareness about peripheral arterial disease

Olympic Gold Medalist Peggy Fleming and the P.A.D. Coalition want to help educate women and their families about an often times silent cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease (P.A.D.). Approximately nine million Americans over the age of 50 are living with P.A.D., a disease that affects their legs and raises their risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, many with the disease do not even know they have it.

May is stroke awareness month and the Vascular Disease Foundation's P.A.D. Coalition, in partnership with the American College of Physicians, is promoting a patient teaching tool titled "A Guide to P.A.D." featuring Peggy Fleming. For a small donation, get a copy of this DVD and give something back to the ones you love, the gift of knowing how to protect their heart. This valuable resource consists of a DVD program and accompanying booklet that helps patients understand peripheral arterial disease (P.A.D.) and reviews its risk factors, symptoms and treatments. It also covers the necessary lifestyle changes needed to make positive changes in your health.

The DVD features skating legend Peggy Fleming sharing her own experiences with heart disease. She lost both her younger sister and her father to heart disease, her father passing away just months before she won Olympic gold at age 17.

"I had no idea that my dad passing away from a heart attack had an effect on my health," says Fleming. "I didn't relate to those ideas until today."

P.A.D. occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed or clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow to the legs. This can result in leg muscle pain when walking, disability, amputation, and poor quality of life. If you have blocked arteries somewhere in the body, you are likely to have them elsewhere. Thus, P.A.D. is a red flag that other arteries are likely affected - increasing the risk of a heart disease, heart attack, stroke and even death.

Source: P.A.D. Coalition