Life can change in an instant. For Chrissie Antonoplos it changed in a heartbeat, literally. In August 2003, Chrissie decided to make a life change after being considered obese. She had tried all the diets, pills, and programs but made the call to look into gastric bypass surgery. After about a year of going through evaluations, insurance and other tests she had the surgery and was out of the hospital in three days with only five mini scars. It was the next couple of weeks where Chrissie’s life really changed. A week after the surgery she noticed that she had difficulty breathing and went to the ER. She was in the hospital for 3 days before they figured out she had 2 blood clots in her lungs. After being put on medication and sent home, something weird happened to Chrissie. She woke up from sleeping and was unable to communicate besides hand motions. Luckily Chrissie’s mom was staying with her and could rush her to the hospital. Chrissie had been diagnosed with having a stroke at the age of 24 and after running some tests the doctors found a hole in her heart the size of a quarter and a blood clot in the middle of it. On September 3rd, 2003 Chrissie underwent open heart surgery. “I have a big scar to remind me every day that life is precious.” Two months after her open heart surgery, Chrissie went back to work part-time at Battelle and was back fulltime by December 2003. In January 2004 she even started grad school.
Chrissie currently works as a formulations chemist/Researcher at Battelle but on the side has a cupcake business called Chrissie’s Creations. Chrissie started to make cupcakes out of necessity to get by financially after going through a divorce. Now, she has bake sales where all the profit goes to different charities. Just this year, along with her company’s corporate match, Chrissie baked 30 dozen cupcakes and generated over $3,000 to Children’s Hunger Alliance and the Beads of Courage program at the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Chrissie also bakes cookies once a month for the Ronald McDonald House.
Chrissie enjoys volunteering for many activities of Kinder Key, and auxiliary of Nationwide Children’s Hospital including the Beads of Courage Program, The Memorial Golf Tournament, and the Women’s Auxiliary Council. The past six years Chrissie has also coordinated the “Lunch Money for a Day” initiative for Children’s Hunger Alliance at Battelle which has raised over $35,000. “My mother thinks I am crazy because I do my regular job, on top of a cupcake business on the side, on top of my volunteering. I have to do something at all times. I believe that it stems from knowing time is short once you have seen the quickness it can be taken away from you. ADD does not help either!”
Chrissie plans to continue what she started, helping raise awareness and the money to keep programs going, thus baking more! She is working to start a 5K with Speedy Sneakers to benefit Beads of Courage at the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and is personally planning to run a half marathon in October to celebrate 13.1 years post open heart surgery.
To find out more about some of the organizations Chrissie is involved with, please visit: www.beadsofcourage.org; www.nationwidechildrens.org/kinder-key; and www.facebook.com/chrissies.creations