Chandra Wilson was recently given an Excellence in Media Award from WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease for her portrayal of “Grey’s Anatomy” character Dr. Miranda Bailey as she suffers a heart attack and its aftermath. Photo courtesy of WomenHeart

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When Chandra Wilson’s daughter suddenly became ill with nausea, vomiting and intense abdominal pain — a condition that persisted and returned many times — the 48-year old mother and actress rolled up her sleeves and began to keep a log of her daughter’s symptoms.

Eventually, the binder of information she put together, accompanied by her persistent advocacy, helped doctors diagnose it as the rare cyclic vomiting syndrome.

Though not a real M.D., Wilson possesses an unusual amount of medical acumen as she’s long played the brilliant and formidable Dr. Miranda Bailey on the hit television show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Wilson won the role of the surgeon and chief resident of surgery at the fictional hospital Grey Sloan Memorial in 2005, and audiences have since fallen in love with her character.

Getting a diagnosis

Remembering how frustrating it was for her daughter to not know what was wrong with her, Wilson knew that getting the name of the condition out could help many families suffering from the same issue.

“Nobody understands, nobody can figure it out, and so when you get that name, that starts you on that journey to health,” she told the Beacon in a phone interview. Wilson made an earnest plea to the writers and producers of the TV show, who agreed to feature the condition her daughter had in an episode that ran in 2012.

“To be able to get the name ‘cyclic vomiting syndrome’ out into a primetime audience of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ watchers was the most incredible thing because, as anyone going through chronic illness or something that’s taken a while to get diagnosed knows, when you finally get the name of what it is that you’re going through, that takes so much weight off you. Because up until that point, you just think you’re crazy,” she said with a laugh.

According to Wilson, her success on the show has imbued her with a certain level of accountability for her actions. “As I have received this amazing blessing of ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I’ve also realized that along with that is my responsibility to my audience, because people are watching,” she said.

That awareness is part of what makes her a passionate actor, especially in scenes that help shed light on many important medical issues. “Grey’s Anatomy” as a medical drama is uniquely positioned for promoting healthcare awareness, even if the show is largely focused on relationships, and Wilson is excited to be a part of it.

“We have given the platform to so many different things, and let me tell you, it’s never anything we make up! Everything comes from — what’s that expression about life being stranger than fiction? That’s true!” she said.

Women and heart attacks

The latest life changing health-related arc on the show is her character’s brush with death on the February 1 episode titled “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”

While stressed with work, her character Dr. Bailey begins to experience signs of a heart attack. As an experienced doctor, she “knew her own body, and she knew that something was wrong,” explained Wilson.

Dr. Bailey rushes to an ER at another hospital (she doesn’t want the doctors at hers to know) and is met with doubt by its well-meaning male doctor.

Here the show touched on many important and relatable issues for women, such as being treated for their emotions instead of physical symptoms (the doctor dismissed her problems as psychological), and her character’s refusing to let others know she was in trouble. “That’s one of the other big things we do as women,” she said with a laugh. “We try to go through things alone.”

These everyday problems were highlighted to great effect in the episode. “To have someone like Miranda Bailey tell that story — someone that everybody thinks they know — it’s like the story is coming from someone’s friend,” she said.

It also highlights the difficulties that occur for women of color, both concerning symptoms and treatment. Dr. Bailey is shown having to share statistics with the psychiatrist she’s forced to see in order to convince him that she’s in trouble. One of those statistics was that “63 percent of women who die suddenly from coronary heart disease have no previous symptom, and women of color are at a far greater risk.”

As is true for women in general, the symptoms Dr. Bailey experienced were different from men’s, which is partly why the doctor in the show doesn’t take her seriously. She doesn’t have the chest or arm pain you normally think of when you think “heart attack.”

According to the American Heart Association, symptoms for women are commonly misdiagnosed, and include shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, as well as back or jaw pain. It’s easy to think it’s the flu or a cold, or “indigestion or acid reflux,” as the ER doctor informs her.

Despite the frustration experienced by her character, Wilson said filming the episode was “invigorating.” She knew how significant the message was, and admitted to being “awakened by the challenge” of portraying the scene properly.

She also mentioned the ever important “ER etiquette” that is illustrated in the scene. “Even with Miranda Bailey being chief of surgery, she still isn’t allowed to know more than the physician she’s speaking to, because once she knows more, then she can be taking care of herself, as far as the [other] physician is concerned.”

Honored for her roles

The heart attack storyline on “Grey’s” has resonated with audiences, so much so that WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease recently gave Wilson an Excellence in Media Award.

CEO Mary McGowan said her organization gave Wilson the award “for her incredibly accurate and moving performance” on the episode. “Her character’s persistence and self-advocacy will live on in the millions of viewers who are now more educated and informed about how to advocate for their heart health,” McGowan said.

Wilson credits two sources for the episode’s authenticity: her own experience advocating for her daughter, and the experience of Elizabeth Finch, who wrote the episode and who had to battle a rare type of bone cancer in her 30s.

Finch herself went misdiagnosed for several years by her doctors, and so she thoroughly understood the significance of the storyline. Wilson and Finch had many conversations about their frustrations and discoveries along the way.

Wilson passionately described “having to fight for yourself and having to tell your story over and over again to every ear that comes in, as if you were telling your story for the first time.”

She is excited to keep seeing how this storyline affects her character for the rest of the series. “This now is a part of [Dr. Bailey’s] life, and what we’ll get to see through the seasons now is how she lives with heart disease. That’s really important to get out there to the audience,” Wilson said.

For a transcript of Wilson’s complete interview with the Beacon, visit http://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/chandra-wilson-qa.