Back to the Pearsons for this week. Let's talk about heart problems.
William Pearson and family (spouse and children) all died from various heart ailments. While William and his wife, Flora, lived into their seventies, their children were not as fortunate.
William, who died at 76 (roughly - his date of birth varies from 1878-1883), died from arteriosclerosis, commonly described as the hardening of the arteries. Considering that he died in 1960, and the average life expectancy in the United States was 76 years in 2021, William had a pretty good run.
His wife, Flora (Deven) Pearson, died at 70 from anteroseptal myocardial infarction (ASMI). Contributing factors included a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and a superior mesenteric artery (SMA) embolism. For you non-medical people (of which I'm one), let me try to break that down. ASMI is a type of heart attack commonly caused by the rupturing of plaque in the arteries. CVA is a disruption of blood flow to the brain - a stroke. An SMA embolism is when a clot breaks free of the heart, and the blockage cuts off blood flow to part of the intestine. So, it sounds like some plaque broke loose in Flora's arteries. The traveling plaque caused a heart attack, a stroke, and impaired blood flow to the intestines.
That's a lot of heart issues for two people, and unfortunately, heart problems are often hereditary. In fact, Flora's mother died from mitral regurgitation (MR) - a heart valve disease, and Flora's father died from chronic myocarditis. William and Flora proved that heart problems don't necessarily mean an abbreviated lifespan, but that would not be the case for Dolores and Theodore, their children, neither one of which lived past the age of 17.
Dolores died in 1928 of chronic endocarditis and myocarditis (sound familiar?). Basically, she suffered from inflammation of the heart. Genetics can play a role in endocarditis, and looking at her parents' (and grandparents') death certificates, it seems likely this was the case for Dolores. She was just 16 when she died.
Her brother, Theodore, died in 1930 from acute endocarditis. Whereas Dolores's ailment was chronic, Theodore experienced a sudden onset of heart inflammation. It's difficult to read the handwriting, but it looks like Theodore was first seen for this illness on April 26th, and he died on May 8th, aged 17.
As previously stated, I do not work in the medical field, so if I got any of this wrong, please let me know!
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