Jesse’s Story
I had been expecting this heart attack since 2008, and maybe before that too, yet it was still a surprise. My mother died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 50, her mother at the age of 54, and my brother at the age of 44 in 2008, the year I turned 50.
On May 16, 2022, I woke up with a strange set of pains between my shoulder blades, in my collar bones, neck, and left arm. I looked up heart-attack symptoms when I got out of the shower. I was not experiencing any sensation of extreme weight on my chest, or anything I could relate to what I was reading about. What it felt like was the sensation I feel when a blood pressure cuff is constricting the circulation in my arm. I am not referring to the squeeze, but to that weird feeling inside my arm above the cuff. This was the sensation I was feeling all through my upper body.
At first, I brushed it off and started out for work but decided to drive myself to the hospital. I walked into the emergency room and said: “I think I am having a heart attack right now.” Tests confirmed I was in the middle of a mild heart attack. I was admitted and scheduled for triple bypass surgery. It saved my life! I beat the odds, breaking a generations-old family history of early death from heart disease.
When I came out of anesthesia and realized that I had survived my open-heart surgery, I experienced a palpable, physical sensation of joy and gratitude like no other experience in my life. I was suddenly aware that I had filled the life I almost lost with petty complaints and constant upset when things didn’t go my way. I saw that I had been living a life of resignation and disappointment. All of that disappeared in the moment of joy I experienced when I realized that I now had a “new” life to live.
A few days after the surgery I did a zoom call with my siblings. As we spoke, it occurred to me that had things gone differently, they would have been having that call without me, making plans for my funeral. We always have a bonfire when somebody dies. That was the moment I realized that I am now living my ONE EXTRA LIFE!
Instead of an obituary, I decided to write my Nobituary — not a description of a life once lived, but a statement of who I am now, and a declaration for the future I am creating from here on out. The experience of writing my nobituary was unbelievable. My understanding of time, synchronicity, focus, relationships — all of life — spun in my head. You are reading this because you somehow stumbled onto this page. Whatever brings you here now, I challenge you to write your own nobituary and guide your own life into a future of your creation. The nobituary that I wrote can be found HERE. If you would like to post yours after you write it, please join our Facebook group, One Extra Life, and post your own nobituary there. If you want help in writing or editing your nobituary, please go to the Contact Us page and I will work with you.