By Khalida Sarwari
Even in the intensive care unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Jill Hunter is all business. In between EKG tests and getting her blood drawn, she’s scanning the news and checking her emails. The first thing she wants to talk about is America in Bloom.
But America in Bloom can wait for now. And so can the myriad other activities she’s involved in. The former mayor and head of the Saratoga Village Development Council and Village Gardeners is recovering from a heart attack she suffered on Aug. 16 during the third of a series of stress tests before undergoing a planned knee replacement surgery on her left knee. During a stress test, a patient’s heart rate is monitored while they are subjected to increasingly strenuous exercise.
“Needless to say, I’m no longer a candidate” for surgery, she said wryly.
Immediately after suffering cardiac arrest, Hunter said, she was rushed to the emergency room, then the intensive care unit at Good Sam, where she’s expected to be until Aug. 26 before doctors move her to a regular room. This was the first time she’s suffered a heart attack, she said, and noted that she considers herself “very fortunate” given that it happened at her doctor’s office and not while she was out walking.
“What happens, happens,” she said. “That’s my little philosophy in life.”
While nights are tough at the hospital, the days haven’t been so bad, she said. She’s had visitors aplenty, the first being Saratoga’s public works director John Cherbone, who Hunter said introduced himself to hospital staff as her adopted son, as well as relatives from across the country.
Village merchants have also stepped up to offer their support, she said. Big Basin restaurant offered to bring her dinner to the hospital and Rejuve, a spa on Big Basin Way, offered her a complimentary holistic facial. People have been sending their well wishes in the form of emails and cards, too, she said.
“These emails are very endearing to me,” she said. “I’ve read each one, and I try to answer each one if I’m up to it. It’s very, very nice–a tremendous feeling of camaraderie from the Village people. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”
Her condition seems to be improving. She said she no longer has chest pains and feels stronger every day. Still, she said she misses the outdoors the most, as the room she is in doesn’t have a window.
“I just want to see the blue sky and the birds and the trees,” she said.
Going forward, Hunter said she’ll be undergoing cardiac rehabilitation and transitioning slowly to her normal life.
“I have no intention of giving up anything,” she said. “It’s what I enjoy about my life. I loved my life before this heart attack happened and that’s not going to change.”
Laurel Perusa, Hunter’s colleague of 11 years and a member of the Village Gardeners, said the best gift to the Hunter family at this time “is the gift of privacy,” but that in the meantime she and her fellow Village Gardeners are rolling up their sleeves to continue their beautification work. Even a few former members have come back to take Hunter’s place.
“We are motivated and we will continue in Jill’s absence,” she said.
Link:
Saratoga: Jill Hunter recovering after suffering heart attack, thanks well wishers
