Toni Braxton recalls a near-fatal heart attack and says doctors warned her she might never tour again
R&B singer Toni Braxton has been living with lupus for over 15 years. But during a serious illness that almost ended in death, the 56-year-old protected her late sister Traci.
Per Peopleduring the Braxton Family Values For the premiere of the seventh season on Friday (August 9), the “Un-Break My Heart” singer called her family together for a meeting where she spoke about the health crisis.
The experience turned out to be a “widowmaker” heart attack, which, according to Adventist Health, occurs when the left anterior descending artery has a LAD blockage. Since there is a 12 percent chance of survival from a life-threatening heart attack, Braxton was understandably concerned for her well-being. At the time, Braxton had to cancel the remaining shows of her two-year Las Vegas residency, “Love & Laughter,” due to the emergency.
Braxton told her family, including her mother, Dr. Evelyn Braxton, 76, and her sisters Trina, 49, and Tamar, 47, about the heart attack over dinner, saying that luckily doctors “discovered it just before it happened.” She underwent the procedure last September after 80 percent of the main artery in Braxton’s heart became blocked.
A tearful Braxton then told the three women that she considered her late younger sister her guardian angel and recounted what medical staff stressed about her health. In March 2022, Traci Braxton died at the age of 50 following a battle with esophageal cancer.
“They told me your sister was watching over you because… you should be dead today. You shouldn’t be alive,” the seven-time Grammy winner said.
Braxton admitted that she would need to have a stent inserted into her heart, an “extremely frightening procedure” that could jeopardize her career as a live performer.
“That’s a very scary process in itself, but my doctor told me I might never be able to tour again. OK? I’ve heard that before, but this was different,” Braxton said. “They say you might never be able to tour again because you could have a heart attack.”
She continued: “It’s an insane fear. I think about it all the time… It’s really bad that I’m scared every day. If I have a heart attack, I’m not going to survive. I can’t even handle this feeling.”
Braxton was diagnosed with lupus in 2008. She has battled the disease for years, and last April it was thanks to a wellness check that her life was saved.
“If I hadn’t taken that test, my life would have been different,” Braxton said People“I look at it as if it was a stroke of luck for me, because now delay testing? Oh no, I’m not going to delay testing.”
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