A family saga. A medical mystery. A fight to save lives.
Dear Friends and Valued Readers,
I’m excited to share Before the Last Heartbeat, a long-overdue true story written with the intimacy of a novel. It blends humor, tension, heartbreak, and a real-life medical mystery.
You’ll step into the world of a family who loved deeply—an ordinary family forced into an extraordinary fight for answers and survival. To understand what came next, you need to know who we were before everything changed: what made us laugh, what held us together, and how we loved before the heartbreak, before the unimaginable, before our world turned upside down.
Nancy Toran Duitch is a visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist whose leadership has shaped some of the most recognizable consumer brands of the last three decades. A trailblazer in wellness, beauty, and lifestyle innovation, she has built, scaled, and successfully exited multiple companies through groundbreaking branding, e-commerce, and multi-channel marketing strategies.
Her career reflects not only creative vision and strategic foresight but also a profound sense of purpose.
In 1991, following the sudden deaths of her siblings, Nancy and her mother co-founded the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (SADS) Foundation, now known as The Future of Inherited Arrythmia’s FIA, later joined by the Cardiac & Arrhythmia Research & Education (CARE) Foundation.
If you or someone you love has experienced any of the following:
• fainting (especially during exercise, stress, or excitement)
• a racing or irregular heartbeat
• unexplained dizziness
• seizure-like episodes
• a family history of sudden, unexplained death
Early screening can be lifesaving.
By submitting a review, you understand that your name, review, rating, review title, and other content you submit for publication may appear publicly on this website. Your email address will not be displayed publicly.
Reviews are subject to approval before publication. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.
“Before the Last Heartbeat is an emotional, riveting family saga rooted in truth — tracing love, loss and a medical mystery that changed everything. The way Nancy shares her brother’s story, her mother’s fight and the heart-ache behind it all is deeply moving. A must-read for anyone touched by grief or the quest for answers.”
“This is not just a memoir — it’s a call to awareness. Before the Last Heartbeat reminds us how fragile life is, how one syndrome can ripple across generations, and how love endures. Nancy writes with clarity and grace, turning her family’s heartbreak into a story of purpose and strength.”
Information submitted through this form will be used to respond to your inquiry and will not be displayed publicly.
Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.