Ever since heart problems jolted her awake on many levels last year, school secretary Sue Brazen-King has been a student of recovery — focusing on weight, diet, exercise and medication.

At cardiac rehabilitation three times a week, she works out on the treadmill, arm crank, rowing machine, elliptical and two cross-trainers. Her hard work has paid off in many ways, including a 50-pound weight loss. That's five dress sizes.

No surprise then, that United Health Services, where Brazen-King goes for rehab, tapped her for its advertising campaign to promote heart health. What surprised her was how they did it.

Brazen-King's super-sized portrait and message about the importance of heart health travels all over town on the side of buses.

"It's so weird. I've seen myself on two buses," she said. "You're driving along and it's like 'there I am.'" Inside a large graphic of a heart, King is pictured saying "United Health Services is great for my heart."

In addition to her health regimen, King is busy with work and with her service on the health and safety committee of her local union, Johnson City Employees Association, led by Carolyn Toner. She is also on NYSUT's Civil and Human Rights Committee.

But her schedule always includes her workouts.

"I came dangerously close to a heart attack," said King, recalling how in the middle of the night in March 2008 she woke up in pain, thinking she was having an asthma attack because it was hard to breathe when she lay down. She did not have any chest pain.

"It was actually fluid buildup," she said.

A trip to the emergency room and a week-long hospital stay revealed her blood pressure was 245/117 (normal BP is roughly 120/80 or less); and her heart rate was a busy 114 (about double what is desired). Numerous tests and catheterizations showed two blockages in her heart.

Because she has a blood disorder, she was not a candidate for angioplasty to open the blockages. She had mistakenly believed this disorder would actually prevent heart problems. Because her blood was so thin she didn't see how she could ever develop a clot. Heart disease, however, is prevalent in her family.

"I'm the queen of rationalization," Brazen-King said. "It was a huge eye-opener."