Emmy award-winning actress, "Oprah" guest, and contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul, Healthy Living: Heart Disease, Tracey Conway inspires both belly laughs and tears as she relates the true story of her own sudden-death cardiac arrest at the age of 38.
During a live taping of her television sketch comedy show, "Almost Live!," Conway collapsed onstage. Stunned and riveted, her audience and colleagues participated in the emergency resuscitation that ultimately returned Conway to life through an astonishing chain of events.
Question #24 on the Seattle Fire Department's Medical Incident Report, filed by responding EMT's, asks "Patient Condition On Arrival?" and provides only two reponses: 1.) Alive and 2.) Dead. On Conway's form, there is a big circle around Option 2. It's official. She is one of the less than 7% of sudden cardiac arrest victims to be successfully resuscitated out of hospital with full brain function. Further, Conway is a young, non-smoking, active female - not at all the typical image of someone who would drop dead from heart problems.
Today, crowds continue to be affected by Conway's powerful and unique program, "Drop Dead Gorgeous." She shares the lessons she learned in those literally heart-stopping moments - not only about heart disease, but also what she has come to value most given a very rare second chance at life, and the changes she has made that apply to virtually all audiences. Whether she's detailing her whirlwind appearance on "Oprah," or explaining the cardiac arrhythmia Ventricular Fibrillation, Conway's delivery is captivating, effervescent, intimate, and guaranteed to touch hearts, minds, and funny-bones.
An Emmy award-winning actress, Conway appeared on the television sketch comedy "Almost Live!" for ten years, which aired throughout the Pacific Northwest and on the cable network Comedy Central. The popular show earned over 100 regional Emmys and ten prestigious Iris awards, the highest honor bestowed to local programming. Her performing credits include live theatre as well as appearing on HBO and in film. Conway earned BFA and MFA degrees with honors in Theatre from the University of New Mexico and the University of Southern California.
Uniquely poised to address heart disease - our nation's #1health threat - Conway inspires both belly laughs and tears as she relates the circumstances and details of her deadly cardiac event and subsequent recovery at age 38. An internationally acclaimed speaker with engagements from Boise to Budapest, she is also an author whose most recent work is the lead story in the recently published, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Healthy Living: Heart Disease. Sought after for her effervescent yet educated presence, she was selected to serve as a panelist on "Second Opinion," the national PBS series that shows how doctors navigate their way through tough medical decisions in a way you've never seen before.
Conway enjoys a variety of presentation roles ranging from keynote addresses, to emcee and moderator, to auction host. In her home city of Seattle, she is active in a number of community programs that support heart disease research and education, emergency medical services, and pet-partner therapy animals. She serves on the board of Seattle's Hope Heart Institute and is a professional member of the National Speakers Association. Conway shares her home with the "most beautiful dog in America," her Siberian Husky, Lulu.
Drop Dead Gorgeous!
A Heart Disease Survivor Story
Tracey Conway is "drop dead funny." Literally. Doubt it? You won't after hearing about the night this young woman's heart stopped beating and she collapsed on the set of her television sketch-comedy show from sudden-death cardiac arrest. Talk about a scene stealer! Conway's presentation inspires both belly laughs and tears as she relates the circumstances and details of her deadly cardiac event and subsequent recovery at age 38. Bringing a lifetime of performing experience to her dynamic presentations, she combines humor and education with the poignant observations of a young woman who has experienced clinical death first-hand, and "returned" to amuse and inspire. Conway is passionate, funny, entertaining - and above all, memorable. Let her tell-it-like-it-is, best-pal style give your audience their wake-up call!
This keynote is devoted to galvanizing audiences to reassess their life and health priorities.
Drop Dead Gorgeous! Program highlights:
* Helpful hints to avoid dropping dead
* Times it's okay to be seen topless by strangers
* Why "Me, first!" is generous, not selfish
* True or False: Sometimes we are smarter than our doctors
* The Heart Pledge of Allegiance
* Tracey's personal prescription for optimal Heart Health
"Lights...Camera...Sponge Bath!"
The Secret Life of Nurses
Ripping back the privacy curtain on the secrets of a nurse's life, Emmy-winning comic actress and writer Tracey Conway shines the spotlight on attendees, inviting them to strut their stuff in hilarious skits a la Who's Line Is It Anyway? It's well known wickedly dark humor helps nurses through the challenges of a physically, mentally and emotionally demanding career. Sponge Bath! encourages them to "flaunt their freak flag!" offering a safe, inclusive arena to laugh at themselves, their medical colleagues, even (gasp!) patients and their families. Short scenarios shaped and shepherded by professional humorist Tracey are brought to improvised life by the pros who know what truly goes on in medical settings. Whether participating on stage or simply hooting with recognition at their fellow attendees, audiences leave refreshed, energized and with great stories to share back in the break room!
Ideal program for opening or closing general sessions for nurses or care givers.
Other possible titles:
Comic CPR* for Nurses: *CallButtons, PetPeeves and (Good Natured) Ribbing
Or a customized title may be requested based on theme of event.
Dead: Been There, Done That!
Down But Not Out - Making Drastic Change Work For You
We've all said it at some point: "I'm dead tired." "My feet are killing me." "I died of embarrassment." There are over forty definitions in the dictionary for "dead" while "alive" earns only nine! Hmmm. Apparently, we have death on our minds a lot! Sudden Death, however, doesn't have to be the end of our stories, nor the worst thing that ever happens to us. Having been clinically dead for over 15 minutes from the fatal heart arrhythmia Ventricular Fibrillation, Tracey Conway has plenty of experience with abrupt change and, literally, shocking turn-arounds. Surprisingly, it was what happened after she died that most deeply affected her life and the lives of those around her. According to Conway, "If you asked me which was more difficult: my sudden death cardiac arrest or losing my job, I'd have to say losing my job! Fortunately, due to that temporary absence, I learned some crucial lessons about what's truly important." This keynote presentation outlines methods to embrace rather resist inevitable change - even shocking change - and learn to ride the roller-coaster of life so even the scariest dips have you clamoring to get back on for another go-round.
Ideal audiences: professionals experiencing potential down-sizing, staff at risk of burn-out, or anyone on the verge of career change or a major workplace transition.
Healing The Broken Heart
Forging the Bond Between Patient and Caregiver
This presentation often is a follow-up or breakout session to accompany Tracey Conway's popular Drop Dead Gorgeous! keynote speech. It delves more deeply into the emotional aftermath of a life-changing health event. Depression, both mild and severe, is a common consequence following major heart surgery as is a new perception of what the mending body and spirit will withstand. Though Conway enjoyed an amazingly swift physical recovery, she was surprised to find herself in need of both counseling and drug therapy within a year of her sudden death cardiac arrest. Exploring ways to heal emotional and mental damage is a large part of the chronic patient's path to recovery. In "Healing the Broken Heart," Conway shares her experience as a person now living and thriving with a serious "pre-existing condition" and her methods of coping with a variety of challenges, fears and frustrations. Drawing on her hallmark humor, she addresses the misconceptions of how heart disease does and doesn't affect the way survivors can be fully contributing members of society, adapting to healthy change, facing economic challenges due to an altered medical status and embracing life as fully as possible. In particular, she covers the importance of building a team approach to working with the caregivers one's medical team, and finding ways to make these interactions both productive and personally fulfilling for all concerned.
Ideal audiences: physicians, nurses and caregivers related to working with patients with chronic health conditions.
