Picture, for a moment, a man very weak and tired, finding out he has a leaking heart valve and needing open-heart surgery immediately to repair his mitral valve? Sitting in the hospital, praying for a miracle. Afraid and hoping he has the very best care at his disposal.
This is Louis’ story…
After having Covid at the beginning of the year, I felt more tired and out of breath; I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I got an appointment in March with my cardiologist and was diagnosed with a leaking heart valve. He told me that I would need open heart surgery to repair it.
Within three weeks, I met my surgeon, Dr Plunkett, had many scans and an angiogram, got triple vaccinated and saw my dentist.
I received a phone call on Tuesday, the 5th of April, and was told that the operation was set for Friday, the 8th of April.
Friday the 8th, the day of surgery, I was nervous. I prayed a lot to God to watch over me. They managed to repair the mitral and tricuspid valve and other parts of my heart. I was very weak – they left me on life support and told my family I had a 50/50 chance of living. I woke up the following afternoon, and when I did wake up, I was told I was a miracle. I want to thank all the doctors and nursing staff who took great care of me; words can’t describe how grateful I am. Together with my wife, we will now get to see my two beautiful children grow up and that makes me so happy.
Your incredible support of the Baird Institute will help others just like me to benefit from these “miracles” made possible by their life-saving research.
