Review by: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – About a year and a half ago, by chance, I accidently had the pleasure of hearing Claudia Mercado speak at a book signing held in Perth Amboy. It was a strange coincidence because that day I had an appointment with my cardiologist, which happened to be only a brief blood test which enabled me to take the early bus home. There is a rental hall on High Street that I always pass by. I get curious when I see it decorated for any specific event. I happened to come upon the owner who told me that there will be a woman speaking about when she had a few heart attacks.

This peaked my curiosity. Maybe it was meant for me to have an appointment which is normally an hour cut to only 10 minutes.

When you read about a person with health issues, basically it just encompasses only the health issues, but Claudia takes you back from her childhood to the present and how she views herself as a millionaire and it has nothing to do with the amount of money you have.

It was her support system, especially her mother and the trials and tribulations her mother went through growing up in Argentina. For the longest time, Claudia was growing up, she was the youngest child in her family and despite growing up in a 2-bedroom apartment with 5 siblings and her parents, love overcame many obstacles. She described her mother baking bread on the oven that would be considered a health hazard today. One time her mother burned her hand and her screaming was so shocking, they were frightened to get close to that stove again.

She talks about how her mother was the driving force and always praised her how intelligent she is. She recounted that when her mother found out when the woman whom she thought was her mother was not. Her mother was also the only girl and had brothers who instead of protecting her would give her a hard time.

Her mother was fortunate that she married a man who was a widower who treated her with love and respect.

When Claudia grew up, she immigrated to the United States, married a strong man. She also vividly described how she ignored the warning of having a heart attack. She suffered through the night getting out of bed trying to ease the pain until her husband realized something was very wrong.

As she was riding in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, she described her pain and discomfort so vividly, it was as if you were experiencing the same pain.

So, she considers herself a millionaire because of the support of her family and friends. Just think about a lot of people that you see that are millionaires and billionaires and are miserable.

There are people who are fair weather friends. I remember my dad saying that you may think you have a lot of friends, but some of those friends are really acquaintances. My dad would say, “Friends are those who tell you what you need to hear – not what you want to hear.”

There is so mushroom to this book and you really need to read it for yourself to get the full impact to get the full background of her childhood and of her mother’s childhood and of the people in the village where she grew up in Argentina.

At the end of the book, Claudia tells you all of what she had to go through to make her heart healthier. In spite of that, she still had another heart attack and advice her doctor had given her. She also mentions several friends who were important in her life and they are the millions of dollars that she talks about.

She was an educator and has been featured in several magazines, including health magazines. She has been a paraprofessional and was selected to the Governor’s Educator for the Year 2016-2017 for her outstanding services as an educator in New Jersey schools.