Donna Mattingly’s Story

Donna Mattingly, aged 51, started having vision problems one day while working on her home computer while recovering from a recent surgery. She describes her symptoms as zigzagging vision and then complete darkness, confusion, slurred speech and numbness and tingling on left side of her face. She was having a stroke and didn’t know it. The episode ended but the next day she went to see Dr. Lee Peplinski at Bennett & Bloom Eye Centers. He was so concerned that he sent her for a MRI and set up an appointment with a neurologist the following week. She then had an outpatient procedure and testing done where it was discovered that she had a large hole in the heart also known as (PFO) that was the direct cause of the stroke and was putting her at higher risk for additional strokes and heart attack.

She underwent surgery to close the hole in her heart. She credits Dr. Peplinski’s caring with saving her life. “If it weren’t for him there is no telling where I would be. His persistence and dedication saved my life, and he has given me a gift I cannot describe with simple words,” said Mattingly.

Mattingly will walk the runway in the “Go Red For Women” Fashion Show on May 19, 2011, and tell her story of survival. She says that she will talk about Dr. Peplinski and how he didn’t dismiss her concerns and went a step further and that’s why she is here today.

Go Red for Women raises awareness about women and heart disease which is the number one killer of women. February 4 is National Wear Red Day. The Go Red for Women Luncheon raises money for the cause every year in Louisville and is held during the month of May.

Click here to see the full interview on WHAS TV.