Catherine Brown has come a long way to be on Rock of Love 2: from a divorce to a life-threatening surgery after her heart was encased in a concrete like shell.

Brown is one of four Las Vegans among 20 women competing for the chance to marry Poison frontman Bret Michaels in VH1’s Rock of Love 2

Brown was the subject of in-depth articles by the Review-Journal in 2002 and 2005 detailing her medical challenges and her family’s fears.

Her amazing recovery from constrictive pericarditis will be chronicled in the reality show, which was taped a few months ago.

“It defined me for so long. It took over my whole life,” the mother of twin 16-year-old boys said by telephone Wednesday.

Brown, who is divorced, landed on the series when her friend, Andrea Robinson, a local model, recommended her during an audition.