VALHALLA – When Jen Maydas-Dering, a world-ranked professional racquetball player in peak condition, suddenly developed a persistent cough, shortness of breath, and gained 10 pounds in just three days, she knew something wasn’t right.

Yet after 14 doctor’s visits and two trips to emergency rooms over several weeks, medical professionals dismissed Maydas-Dering and her symptoms, telling her it was “just asthma,” to “try antacids,” or to “go home and lose weight.”

It turns out Maydas-Dering’s heart was failing, and with the delay in diagnosis, a heart transplant was necessary to save her life.

Maydas-Dering’s troubling story of dismissal exposes a dangerous reality: women’s heart disease symptoms often go unrecognized, and gender bias in medicine can be deadly .

Now, Maydas-Dering is c

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