Country music star Ashley Cooke stunned fans when she took to social media earlier this year to reveal that she is dealing with a terrifying health issue.

The singer revealed that she has Brugada syndrome.

The Mayo Clinic says that Brugada syndrome is “a rare but potentially life-threatening heart rhythm condition that is sometimes inherited.”

It adds that people with Brugada syndrome have “an increased risk of irregular heart rhythms beginning in the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles). This disease can cause an abnormal rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers, leading to ventricular fibrillation (v-fib) and sudden cardiac death, often occurring while at rest or asleep.”

She recently opened up about it in an interview with E! Online saying that “a lot” of people on her dad’s side of the family have had the condition.

“The toughest part is that I’m still learning about it every day,” she said. “I really don’t know as much as I’d like to know, because there really isn’t a ton that we can know.

“It’s the kind of syndrome that nothing really affects you until it does and it’s fatal, and that’s just that way that it goes,” she added. “A lot of people on my dad’s side, they’ve unfortunately — out of nowhere without even knowing they had it — had a cardiac episode and they were gone.”

Cooke told E! she is feeling fine and believes she will “live a long, happy, healthy life,” despite the condition.

She is not the only member of her family dealing with health issues, though, so she told E! that has created issues when it comes to her support system. Normally, she said, she leans on her family when times are tough, but when they are also dealing with health issues, she said her friends have been invaluable.

“I’ve got to lean on those friends throughout that season,” she said. “I vividly remember talking to Mitchell Tenpenny, who lost his dad to cancer a couple years back, and we talked about my dad’s diagnosis and my grandma passing away and all this stuff, and he really was a rock for me, just having great conversations with him.

“One of the beautiful things about your core group being shaken up is that it’s almost like God tells you, ‘Hey, you got other people in your life that are wonderful,’” she added. “I put them in your life to rely on and lean on.”

Brian Linder is the trending editor and the retail, restaurant and real estate editor at PennLive.com. He has more than 20 years of experience working for newspapers first in South Carolina, then Daytona…