MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Her mother died of a heart attack, and an Ohio woman is sounding the alarm.

What you need to know

• Margaret Martin’s mother died shortly after suffering a heart attack while preaching
• A few weeks before that happened, Martin noticed that his mother was starting to have chest pains.
• Martin has been an advocate and fundraiser for the American Heart Association ever since

Every time Margaret Martin walks down the lane just outside Middletown’s Atrium Hospital, she is reminded of what happened to her mother.

Her mother was a former pastor of a small church in Dayton.

Martin says that at one service he learned something was wrong with his mother.

“‘Mom, why do you keep rubbing your breasts? Pain.'”

After a few weeks, the chest pain got worse.

“She went to preach at another church, which was a visiting church, and suddenly got sick at the pulpit,” Martin said.

Martin’s mother had a heart attack and delivered her last words to her daughter from her hospital bed.

“I listened to what she was trying to say. I was like, ‘Is mom in pain?

The words that became her mission.

For more than 30 years since her mother died, she has warned people about the signs.

“We have to take care of our bodies, we have to listen. That was it,” said Martin.

She has raised funds for the American Heart Association, including an annual fundraiser around the hospital.

Each year she takes these steps for her mother so she doesn’t have to be done by someone else.

“Someone else’s family, they can save a mother or father from tragedy,” Martin said.

Advocates and families recently completed the annual Heart Walk for Butler and Warren Counties.

They raised nearly $30,000 for the American Heart Association this year.