edges of the hole and suturing them shut.
The change in Oyler’s breathing capacity was immediate. Just over two months later, she was back to running and better than ever. She could log a nine-minute mile with no training. Before, she’d trained hard to run a 10-minute mile.
Oyler hopes her story inspires people to advocate for their health because “no one knows you better than you.” She also hopes people find inspiration in how she’s putting her newfound energy to use – like spinning classes, which she’d avoided before. Last year, she traveled to Rwanda, hiking in high altitude to see the mountain gorillas.
In January 2019, exactly two years after her shortness of breath episode in her office, she was traveling in New Zealand and decided to celebrate by bungee jumping off the Kawarau Gorge bridge in Queenstown. She almost backed out, then she thought of her mantra since the surgery, which she uses to weed out unwelcome things in her life.
“Did I have open-heart surgery for this?” she asked herself. “Definitely yes.”
Then she swan-dived.
