Zumba Instructor Finds Health, Happiness

If it weren't for her high school friend Chad, BillieJo Partridge may not be in the place she's in today -- happy, healthy and dancing.

About four years ago, he died suddenly. There was something wrong with his heart, and it caught him, his family and friends off guard.

About the same time, Partridge and another friend started walking up and down Stone Mountain daily. The more she walked, the more she got a nagging feeling.

"Something was going on with my heart; I could feel something," she said. "So, when he passed, it was kind of like a wake up call that I needed to get that checked out, so I did."

At the time, Partridge says she also had gained a lot of weight. At her heaviest, she was 5 feet 4 and 160 pounds. "For me, that was too big," she said.