By the age of 16, Maboné found herself often pondering if she'd see the light of the next day. Her first heart attack had just happened and five more would ensue before she turned 18. This led her to create a bucket list which included breaking into the entertainment industry, inspired by the movie "Miss Congeniality" as Maboné shared with CNN.
While her peers were occupied with high school life, Maboné often found herself in hospitals. Despite having no family history of such conditions, maintaining a good diet, stress management and regular exercise, Maboné, an unlikely candidate for the condition she was later diagnosed with, suffered a series of heart attacks while running. Unable to divulge her condition to her friends and instructors, out of embarrassment, she chose to deal with her ailment in secrecy.
Maboné is now 28 and as the winner of the 2023 Miss District of Columbia tittle and a competitor in this year's Miss America pageant taking place on the 14th of January, she's ready to speak up. "This is the most indiscriminate disease in the United States, and it's also the one that's killing the most people," Maboné expresses. She decided that her platform as Miss America was to de-stigmatize this disease.
Maboné utilizes her title to advocate for proactive heart health preparation for heart emergencies including affiliating with the American Heart Association and other organizations to promote preventive health awareness, facilitate community screenings, and initiate plans for the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in schools. AEDs are "portable life-saving devices designed to treat people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest" via electric shocks to restore normal heart rhythm according to the Food and Drug Administration.
According to Maboné, surviving six heart attacks was a wake-up call. "I felt there was a purpose, and there was a responsibility to help other people to be better than me," she states.
A Challenge in Perseverance
Born in Southern California in 1995, Maboné was one of four children raised by a single mother who served in the Navy. "My mother raised us with this rule in her house up until the end of high school: We needed to play a sport, play an instrument, learn a second language, participate in a club, participate in leadership activities, and take singing classes," Maboné explains.
As an athlete and distance runner, Maboné noticed her heart conditions while participating in a 10-kilometer race on July 11, 2012. She began experiencing chest pains that progressed to profuse sweating, difficulty breathing, dizziness, nausea, and pain in her left shoulder. Maboné instinctively knew that these symptoms could indicate an imminent heart attack, but she dismissed this idea due to her young age and healthy lifestyle. Nevertheless, she knew she needed medical assistance and got herself to a hospital.
"Looking back at it now, I should have stayed put... and had someone else run towards a nearby location to call 911,"...
