MEET BETHANY

We of HeartCharged take great pride in our Instagram account, The Jolt @heartcharged. We consider it our home base because it is really where we started connecting with our international heartcharged friends, and those that care for them and care about them. 

When you look at that account, we believe you will see a put-together page. The look is coordinated though the content is mixed. Gratitude and grace, facts and funnies, self-awareness and selfies are all apparent. Posts cover red days, blue days, happy days, what-is-happening days. You see the person, the patient, the giver, the receiver. And knowledge is unleashed so action can follow. 

And as is the page, so is the page’s creator, the visionary who puts it all together, Bethany.

Bethany will tell you herself that when she was told she needed a defibrillator implanted that she, of course, worried what it would look like. She was, and is, a dancer, earning her BFA in Dance Performance. She communicates with her body. She had already been diagnosed with HCM for 5 years when she passed out a time then two. And all of a sudden, her doctors told her one day that in 10 days she would have a defibrillator implanted.

She will tell you herself about the days of doubt between the implanting and the unveiling. She spent weeks waiting for the bandages to come off to finally see who she had become. And when she saw, and it was no particularly small thing she saw especially in comparison to her small body, she looked on her new look and smiled. She did not see imperfection but strength and resiliency. And each day since, she has at her side that reminder of what is important and why it’s important and why she needs to do what she does.

Each piece of The Jolt page was picked with a purpose like Bethany’s outfit on a Saturday night. Even the color scheme – blue, red, white, gold - has heartcharged meanings. Beta-blocker blue, heart red, oxycodone white, winner’s gold. The page is aptly named The Jolt because that is what a defibrillator sends to get someone's heart back in rhythm, and the page is ready to send a needed jolt to get someone's life back in rhythm.  The first post up on The Jolt is perhaps Bethany’s mission statement. It is a quote, “One day you will tell your story about how you overcame that battle you went through, and God will send you the exact people who need to hear that story.”

And so on the page you will see her story. You will see her bulge in her bikini and know her battle. You will see her in a hospital gown and still grasp her glow. You will see her in leotards and lingerie, being charged or getting recharged. You may find that she flaunts her defibrillator, but she does so with a little girl’s fears and a strong woman’s faith. You may see her wonder and weep, strong and proud or down and out. But you will be able to see her. Her open-book approach to The Jolt page and her life makes her story just that easy to read and her battle just that easily known. 

Bethany has gone down a path which others are traveling and she offers to take their hand as they do. She saw herself, she accepted herself, she showed herself, she showed gratitude. She is happy to help them do the same. And now that you know her, you can walk with her as a friend. 

Email her at Bethany@getheartcharged.org