The mother-of-two turned to talk to her husband after putting the groceries away when, without warning, she fell to the floor.

It turns out Ms Daniels had suffered from a spontaneous coronary artery dissection heart attack – a unique form of heart disease that only affects women.

“I had just upped my weights at the gym, so I thought maybe I had been overdoing it,” she said.

During SCAD, a sudden tear occurs within the layers of one or more arteries to the heart.

The tear blocks blood flow, which can lead to cardiac arrest and sometimes death.

As one of 267 survivors in Australia, Ms Daniels said SCAD sufferers did not share the same characteristics as many other heart attack victims.

“We’re all healthy,” she said.

“When I had the angiogram done, there were absolutely no signs of heart disease whatsoever.

“I was going to the gym four or five times a week, and had a healthy diet.

“There was no pain when it happened, which was probably the scariest part about it.”

Almost two years later, Ms Daniels is using her experience as the basis for the first ever Launceston SCAD fundraiser.

To be held on April 29, the community is invited to a five-kilometre SCADaddle to raise funds for SCAD research. It comes after a similar event in Hobart last year, which was hosted by SCAD Research Australia.

Funds from this month’s event will go toward the Mayo Clinic in the United States and also the Victor Chang Institute in Sydney. 

Professor Bob Graham from the institute said there were definitely still some unanswered questions when it came to SCAD.

“Unless we understand what causes SCAD, we are not going to be able to treat it,” he said.

“We think this is an important piece of research that requires urgent support and attention.”

For more information, or to register for the Launceston SCADaddle, go to the event page on Facebook.

The event will be held from 9am at 2 Invermay Road.

There will be no registrations taken on the morning of the event.

Donations can be made through www.mycause.com.au/page/174195.