BOSTON -- February is American Heart Month, raising awareness of the No. 1 killer in the United States. As one local woman demonstrates, the face of heart disease is not always what one would expect.

"I thought I was going to die," said Dana Barbuto, of Dorchester, Mass. "I thought this is some sort of cruel way to die, just to have a baby then meet him for eight days and that was it. Cash it in," she said

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Barbuto was 36 years old when she gave birth to her son Dominic. Eight days after giving birth, Barbuto became alarmed when she had trouble breathing. "I turn my computer on and I start googling my symptoms," said Barbuto. "Post partum, breathing difficulty, fluid retention, all that stuff and basically every medical Web site said heart failure. Get yourself to the emergency room before you drop dead," she said.

Barbuto went to the emergency room at a local hospital before being transported to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, Mass. She was admitted to the cardiac unit where she was diagnosed with a very rare, but serious heart condition, peripartum cardiomyopathy or PPCM.

"Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a weakness of the heart muscle function and it usually develops in women in the last trimester of pregnancy or it can occur up to a year after pregnancy," said Dr. Lana Tsao, a cardiologist at St. Elizabeth's who treated Barbuto.

Symptoms of PPCM mimic those of normal pregnancy, such as swelling and shortness of breath, said Tsao. She said these symptoms typically resolve after delivery, but this was not the case for Barbuto.

"(In) Dana's case after her pregnancy, she continued to be short of breath and have a lot of fluid retention. And then they did an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart, and it showed that she had weakened heart muscle function," said Tsao.

Doctors were able to save Barbuto by extracting 30 pounds of fluid and bringing her blood pressure down with medication. She has now returned to work as a journalist and enjoying her son Dominic, whom she calls "little hunk."

According to cardiologists, Barbuto is one of the lucky ones, able to regain her health with continued medication. One-third of women diagnosed with PPCM are able to live normal lives, but just as many have serious, lifelong effects. Some PPCM patients may even need a heart transplant.