What began as a routine check for swelling quickly turned Randy Ramey's life upside down. When pneumonia and swelling were diagnosed as stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver, Randy, of Denton, Texas, struggled to understand how it was all connected. 

A series of visits with local specialists revealed a fatty liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH. For Randy, the diagnosis set off a cascade of life-or-death decisions that led his wife and him to Mayo Clinic, where he underwent a complex series of three lifesaving procedures, including a double coronary artery bypass surgery, liver transplant and, just months later, a kidney transplant. They found themselves navigating one health obstacle after another.

Randy is sharing his story to raise awareness during Donate Life Month.

Watch: 3 lifesaving surgeries and a second chance

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:47) is available for download at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I was shocked. I mean, we didn't see that coming at all. It's right out of left field. You know, at that point, I wasn't physically sick. I was just swollen," says Randy.

When pneumonia and swelling became a diagnosis of stage 4 cirrhosis. Randy came to Mayo Clinic for a liver transplant evaluation. What doctors found made his situation far more urgent and far more complex.

"I went into the lab for a chemical stress test, but that's where they confirmed the two blockages. So what they ended up deciding, we're going to do two surgeries in one day. We're going to do your heart surgery — your double bypass — and we're going to do the liver. The worst I felt was the day before I got transplanted. The next morning when I woke up and had to do the walk, I still felt better than I did before the surgery," he says.

From the hospital window, Randy's wife, Elise, watched the mountains outside and saw their journey ahead — every peak, every valley — another procedure, another decision, another climb.

"We're going to have to climb every one of those mountain ranges," Elise says as she recalls their journey. "We're going to have to ascend and descend and ascend and descend every one of those mountain ranges."

"I'm getting rebuilt from the ground up," Randy says. "My kidney took off running, and it hasn't stopped. I don't know how you pay somebody for saving your life. I get emotional because you can't put it in words, but I've tried."

And with smiles as big as Texas, Randy and Elise are home after 27 weeks in Arizona. 

Related stories:

• From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits (VIDEO)

The post 3 lifesaving surgeries and a second chance (VIDEO)  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A successful consultant and avid athlete, Lauren lived at full speed — until a leaky heart valve turned life-threatening. Robotic surgery at Mayo Clinic helped her rebound quickly. 

As a little girl, Lauren rarely thought about her mitral valve prolapse, a heart condition she'd had since birth. Although the bulging valve caused blood to leak backward in her heart, it didn't stop her from dancing competitively. 

"I never experienced it as something wrong with my heart, but as, 'Your heart makes a silly sound,'" she says.  

Lauren joined the Notre Dame dance team in college. She began running races, including half-marathons and marathons. She enjoyed pushing her body, and her heart never slowed her down. 

In the summer of 2023, that abruptly changed. While running in downtown Minneapolis, Lauren felt unusually exerted. After only half a mile, she slowed to a walk. Was the Taylor Swift concert from two nights earlier catching up with her? "Maybe I'd screamed too hard," she says. 

Then Lauren checked her wearable — a gold ring that tracks health data — and noticed a change in her heart rate variability, an indicator of cardiovascular fitness. "It dropped off a cliff, and my heart rate had elevated," she says. 

Feeling uncertain, Lauren headed to an urgent care. They reassured her she was the healthiest person they'd seen all month. Yet Lauren continued to feel "off" for weeks.

After listening to her heart, her husband, Joe, a cardiologist, suggested an echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound. The scan confirmed his concern — her mitral valve prolapse had progressed, causing the left side of her heart to balloon, a risk factor for heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest. Lauren would need surgery to repair her valve — and she'd need it soon. 

"To go from running a 10-mile race at a 7:40 pace to being told the left side of my heart was 40% enlarged didn't seem possible," she says. "Anything I pushed my body to do, I could do. Now, the word 'severe' just echoed in my brain."  

Facing the possibility of open-heart surgery, Lauren started searching. 

Finding a solution close by

For the last two decades, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, has combined its world-renowned surgical expertise with advanced robotics to offer a less invasive alternative to open-heart surgery. From their medical community, the couple learned Mayo was a pioneer in robotic mitral valve repairs.

"Instead of cutting the sternal bone, we make tiny 'keyhole' incisions on the side of the right chest," explains Dr. Arman Arghami, a cardiovascular surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "With the robot, we can provide the same gold standard repair while cutting the recovery in half."

 
Minimal scarring and a quicker return to daily rhythms and exercise appealed to Lauren. After meeting with Dr. Arghami, she felt confident Mayo was the right choice. "I had like 30 questions, and we talked through every single one," she recalls. "It felt like his focus on me was limitless."

While awaiting her surgery, Lauren kept running to maintain her heart's strength. She also began working with her therapist to build emotional resilience. 

As an athlete, "I do a lot of visualizing before a performance or a race," she says. "Since I wasn't going to be the one doing the surgery, I focused my thoughts on having a team of people I trust."

"Thank you, I trust you" became her surgery-day mantra — carefully chosen words of surrender that she repeated to every care team member. During the few seconds of solitude before surgery, Lauren pictured a successful repair one last time. 

She was ready to let others fight for her. 

Recovering her identity 

When Lauren woke up, her husband's smiling eyes told her she was OK. Her relief mounted when Dr. Arghami handed her a stethoscope. The rhythmic reassurance of a fully functioning heart had replaced the clicking she'd heard since childhood. 

"It's good?" she asked, and Dr. Arghami replied with a smile, "It's very good." 

Watching the echocardiogram, her husband marveled that he'd never seen such an effective repair. "My valve was totally torn," Lauren says, "and now it was sealing perfectly." 

Less than 24 hours later, she was ready to start moving. With a nurse next to her, Lauren lapped the intensive care unit. That afternoon, she walked herself to the step-down unit. 

"I know there was pain from the surgery, but my mind can't drum up that feeling anymore," Lauren says. "What I can access is the memory of listening to my heart, of seeing my echo on the screen, how my nurse made me feel confident. I felt really empowered." 

Before her flower deliveries could arrive the next day, Lauren was discharged to go home. Four weeks later, she was back to running. Three months later, she could hold a plank in Pilates class. 

While visiting with Dr. Arghami, Lauren eagerly showed him her wearable data. Her heart rate variability was moving back toward baseline. Her heart rate was once again that of an athlete. 

"The data so powerfully confirms how my body feels," she says. "I have no limits in my activity or my life." 

Lauren also recognizes that freedom is no longer a given.

This sense of vulnerability has nurtured a deeper gratitude for her body and all it allows her to do, including a 10-mile race last fall. Although Lauren didn't train as hard — or run as fast — as she once did, that didn't matter because she was back to doing what she loves. 

"I didn't take any of those miles for granted. Crossing that finish line was awesome," she says. "Running and moving through life without worry was the goal, and I got there." 

The post Robotic heart surgery enables lifelong athlete to race again   appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Randy McKnight makes award-winning barbecue, runs marathons and owns a small business. He puts his heart into everything he does — just not the heart he had when he was born.

Randy was among the first 10 heart transplant recipients at Mayo Clinic in Florida, a program that is now marking its 25^th anniversary.

Watch: 'Live for today': Looking at life nearly 25 years after a heart transplant

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (2:14) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"It was in the summer of 1998," Randy says. "We were having a lot of fires in Jacksonville along I-95, and (I was) having a hard time breathing."

Randy was 35 years old when his care team in Jacksonville, Florida, discovered he had an enlarged heart.

"I was in full-blown heart failure with fluid in my lungs," Randy says. "(My doctor) basically said, 'You need a heart transplant.' I couldn't believe it."

Randy was placed on the transplant list in Rochester, Minnesota, and spent almost three years traveling back and forth for appointments, waiting for a heart.

"My son must have been 8 or 9, and I knew that I had to survive to help raise him and support him," Randy says.

Then, in 2001, Mayo Clinic started a heart transplant program in Jacksonville, which gave Randy a chance to be closer to home.

"I met Dr. Yip when the program first started, and from day one, he and I have connected," Randy says. "I've always felt like I've had a personal connection with the team here, and it just made the whole process so much easier."

After listing and waiting several more months, the day finally came.

"I had my heart transplant on May 27, 2002," Randy says.

"You have someone who is literally on death's doorstep to be able to live a full, healthy life, back to things that they want to do, going back to work, raising their children, going to graduations, going to weddings, raising their grandchildren. That is satisfying," says Dr. Daniel Yip, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who helped start the heart transplant program in Florida.

Over the last quarter century, Dr. Yip has seen progress in heart transplantation — from advances in medications to new options for patients with the greatest need.

"Being able to expand the donor pool using organs that, in the past, we would say maybe we shouldn't think about using them, but knowing with time, with research, with innovation, with technology, to be able to use these organs," Dr. Yip says. "And now we're able to go a lot farther, even across the country, to be able to get the right heart for a patient. I think that's the biggest thing — to be able to serve patients who need our help."

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), nearly 4,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a heart transplant.

Randy is grateful for the years he's been given, and he's made it his mission to help others.

"My quality of life before transplant — being sick, being limited — was really hard because I'm go, go all the time," Randy says. "Just learn to live each day for today, live every day for today and appreciate life."

The post (VIDEO) ‘Live for today’: Looking at life nearly 25 years after a heart transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

With a failing heart and little hope of healing, Alan Lewis sunk into depression, gaining 330 pounds. After he came to Mayo, bariatric surgery enabled the transplant he'd sought for so many years.   

Alan Lewis was lying on the floor — the only position that eased his discomfort — watching a football game. When a Mayo Clinic commercial came on, the tagline seemed to leap off the screen.

"You know where to go."

With heart failure sapping his strength, Alan had begun to doubt there was an "other side" to his condition. At age 41, he'd already lived a decade with a poorly pumping heart, diagnosed during a hospital visit for a broken ankle. 

For years, Alan had relied on a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to help his heart circulate blood through his body. After the first one malfunctioned, he received a second device in 2018.

What Alan really needed was a new heart.

Even after bariatric surgery helped him lose weight, he still wasn't added to the transplant list. "When we'd ask about transplant, our care team would just say, 'Oh, he's doing fine. Just keep doing what you're doing,'" says his wife, Vida.

As months became years, Alan's hope of healing waned. His mental health spiraled.

"I was a nervous wreck," he recalls. "What if the LVAD malfunctioned? What if there was a power failure? I was scared to go places, worried about backup batteries. I was in my head 24/7. It was torture."

Deeply depressed, Alan gained 330 pounds during the pandemic, reversing his previous weight loss. Without a clear path forward, he resigned himself to dying.

Then, in 2022, Alan saw the Mayo commercial — and Vida saw an opportunity. She made the decision for them. They were going to Rochester.

A journey toward hope

After driving from Chicago, weak and rapidly declining, Alan sought help from Mayo Clinic.

There, Vida's long-simmering concern was confirmed —a tough-to-kill bacteria had infected the wiring that linked his LVAD to its external battery. The battery for his defibrillator was also dead, leaving him vulnerable to potentially deadly arrhythmias.

Right away, Alan received IV antibiotics, a new defibrillator and an introduction to the transplant team. "Day one, they spoke of transplant," says Vida. "I was shocked."

At his first follow-up visit, Sarah Schettle, a physician assistant on the LVAD team, could see the emotional strain of all that Alan and Vida had been through. "There was a lot of hesitancy — 'Will Mayo accept us?'" she recalls. "I also remember the hopefulness, the desire to know what was possible here."

Recognizing that Alan needed complex, multidisciplinary care, the team began formulating a plan.

Within two weeks, the couple relocated to Rochester — and just one year into marriage, Vida unflinchingly pivoted to her new role as caregiver.

"It was embedded in me to love as hard and as much as you can," she says.

Vida vowed to do that for Alan.

Preparing for tomorrow

The team said Alan needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle before a second bariatric surgery — a necessary step toward transplant. So Vida signed them up for a gym. She walked next to him on a treadmill, urging him on. She made healthy meals. She pored over the lengthy care plan, still shocked that they had one.    

"Back home, no one gave us clear answers. How long would he have the LVAD? Could he ever get a transplant?" she says. "At Mayo, we never experienced that. The focus was always on getting him well enough for a transplant, like he deserved to be transplanted."

Still, there was fear that the new heart wouldn’t happen. Sensing Alan's struggle, Adrian da Silva de Abreu, M.D., Ph.D., one of his cardiologists, spent an hour at his bedside, mostly listening.

"I'd never seen a doctor take that time," says Alan. "I put it all out there, and I could tell he was hearing me."

Peace replaced his once-crippling anxiety. At last, he knew his team wanted what was best for him. As Vida says, "They had a vision. They had a plan. It was healthcare like I've never seen before."

A risk with great reward

Alan's first bariatric surgery shrunk his stomach to the size of a banana.

To help him lose the weight he'd regained, Omar Ghanem, M.D., a bariatric surgeon, planned to reroute part of Alan's small intestine so food would bypass a long segment of his bowel. Known as a modified duodenal switch, this would reduce how many calories and nutrients he absorbed and alter the secretion of hunger-related hormones.

Dr. Ghanem knew the already complex surgery would be even more challenging in Alan's case.  

With his heart essentially outside his body, monitoring — and maintaining — his vitals would be difficult. Blood thinners to prevent clots in his LVAD would also elevate his risk of bleeding. Then there was the looming infection, suppressed but still active, only curable if the LVAD was removed.  

Seven Mayo Clinic teams — from Infectious Diseases to Anesthesiology — worked together to help Alan beat the odds.

"Where else do you have all this expertise in one place? I don't think anything like this can be done outside of a place like Mayo," says Dr. Ghanem. "Here we're able to safely push the limits."

Knowing this path was his best chance at healing, Alan and Vida agreed to go forward.

Despite its complexity, the revision was a success, and so was the recovery. Within months, Alan lost enough weight to qualify for a heart. He was finally on the transplant list.  

Moving forward at last

Six weeks later, a middle-of-the-night call brought Alan back to Mayo Clinic.

After years of heart failure, two LVADs, two bariatric surgeries, dozens of pounds lost and hundreds of tears shed, Alan was receiving another chance at life. He was receiving a new heart.

Less than five hours after opening his chest, Philip Spencer, M.D., a cardiovascular and transplant surgeon, brought Alan to the "other side" of heart failure — that place he'd once thought didn't exist.  

"We had an infection to deal with. And there was scarring within his chest," says Dr. Spencer. "But, once the LVAD was out, it went very well."  

IV steroids enabled his body to accept the organ, and with the LVAD out, his infection could finally clear. Even from his hospital bed, Alan felt his confidence returning.

"I'd had this yoke on me. I couldn't move without the LVAD. I couldn't bathe without it. I couldn't eat without it. It was always present," he says. "Mentally, I'd been down so long. Now I had freedom."

For the first time in years, there were no wires to wrestle with. There was no battery to worry about.

Alan could be himself again.

A new life for Alan

With Alan's heart fully functioning, the couple is now back in Chicago, enjoying a renewed zeal for life.

For Alan, that means showing his gratitude for everyone who supported him — his family, his close friends and, of course, Vida. Every day, he focuses on caring for her in every way possible.  

"When I wake up, I start catering to her," he says. "She had to cook and clean. She helped bathe me and put on my shoes and socks. It's a joy for me to be able to do things for her now."

During the night, Alan sometimes reaches across the mattress, making sure Vida is still there, even though he knows she always will be. She is his safe person, and Mayo Clinic is the safe place that showed him what healthcare should be.

Both their hearts remain in Minnesota, where hope first began to beat, strong and steady, in Alan's chest. The tagline from a football game ad — "You know where to go" — still feels like a summons.

"To have so many people involved in your care, and each one be a beautiful experience, is so rare," says Vida. "God has blessed him, and Mayo has been there for him. We want to move back because Rochester feels like home, you know?"

Related story:

• New year, new focus on health: Mayo Clinic expert highlights effective treatment options for obesity

The post Bariatric surgery paves way for heart transplant after end-stage heart failure  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

For Loren Vinal, the holidays have always carried a gentle kind of magic. Loren's hometown of Corning, New York, and his winters on Jekyll Island, Georgia, offered two peaceful places where music and community shaped his daily life.

In late 2017, everything changed. After months of worsening shortness of breath and repeated misdiagnoses, Loren — a guitarist with 40 years of experience — flew to Nashville, Tennessee, to play a show with a friend. Loren ended up in the emergency department before he could play — diagnosed with advanced heart failure. He remembers the shock of that moment. 

"Out of the blue, my life completely shifted," Loren says. 

After receiving that diagnosis, Loren spent 13 days in the hospital in Nashville. Once stable, he returned to upstate New York and continued care at a local hospital where specialists determined he needed a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The LVAD is a mechanical pump that supports the heart by helping the left ventricle circulate blood throughout the body.  

After about seven years with the LVAD, new complications in 2024 meant it was time to revisit transplant. By then, Lorena already knew about Mayo Clinic in Florida. Years earlier, he had been transferred there from a nearby hospital while wintering on Jekyll Island because smaller hospitals were not equipped to manage patients with the LVAD.

Loren never forgot the care he received then. 

"I was so impressed with the dedication and professionalism at Mayo Clinic," Loren says. 

When he learned he was a strong candidate for heart transplant, he says the decision to pursue care at Mayo Clinic felt right. 

Heart transplant

Loren received his first heart transplant on July 1, 2024. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Loren would need another new heart, and he was relisted on the transplant waiting list in May 2025. He spent nine and a half weeks waiting in the hospital before receiving his second heart transplant on July 19, 2025. 

Waiting was difficult, but he felt supported at every turn. Today, Loren shares that he exercises and plays music again — feeling stronger with each passing day.  

"A good working heart changes everything," Loren says. 

Loren speaks openly about the gratitude he feels toward his donors who gave him the incredible gift of life. "It is the greatest gift you can bestow on another human," he says. 

Throughout his journey, Loren learned more about the scope of Mayo Clinic's commitment to transplantation. As one of the largest and most comprehensive transplant programs in the world, Mayo Clinic Transplant Center provides seamless care across heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow transplantation for both adults and children. 

The transplant center teams in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota work together to advance innovation, research and education, shaping the future of transplantation worldwide. 

Mayo Clinic also leads research in organ preservation, living donation and regenerative medicine, guided by a vision that no patient should die while waiting for a transplant. These advances have helped expand access for patients with complex needs and support successful outcomes like Loren's. 

"Loren showed extraordinary resilience," says Dr. Daniel Yip, transplant cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "Even in the face of profound challenges, he remained engaged and hopeful. Our team was committed to walking every step of this with him."  

As Loren looks toward the new year with a new heart, he feels a deeper joy in the moments he once took for granted: a strong, steady heartbeat; music returning to his fingertips; and time with the people he loves.

"I sincerely thank everyone involved, and I hope to continue to pay it forward," Loren says. 

His story now carries its own quiet holiday light — hope renewed, life restored and gratitude that stretches far beyond the season.  

The post New heart helps Loren Vinal return to music, life he loves appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

When a hockey coach and teacher in Minnesota experienced a cardiac event, a multidisciplinary team at Mayo Clinic helped him get back in the game through teamwork and quality care

On a winter Sunday in Owatonna, Minnesota, Ryan Harrison, a hockey coach and teacher, was wrapping up a youth game with his son, Justin. As the family loaded gear into the car and prepared to head home, Ryan pressed the start button and immediately slumped forward, unresponsive.

In an instant, everything changed. Chris, his wife, tried to wake him, pulling on him and calling his name, while their teenage son dialed 911. Justin ran outside the car to flag down help and, in a remarkable stroke of timing, came across a supervising nurse from Owatonna Hospital who had just left the arena. 

The nurse began CPR immediately. Her intervention became the first link in a series of lifesaving events that would involve two hospitals, dozens of specialists and some of the most advanced emergency cardiac techniques available. 

"Somebody was watching over him," Chris says. "The right people were in the right place at exactly the right time."

Paramedics transported Ryan to Owatonna Hospital, where he coded again. Dense fog ruled out airlifting Ryan, and he was rushed to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, by ground ambulance.

Emergency intervention at Mayo Clinic

The cardiac catheterization laboratory at Mayo was waiting for Ryan when he arrived in critical condition. Specialists quickly uncovered a completely blocked coronary artery and restored blood flow within minutes. But despite their swift action, his heart was still failing. 

The team placed an Impella device — a tiny pump that steps in for the heart when it cannot pump enough blood — in Ryan. When his oxygen levels continued to decline despite the device being in place, the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) team was called in to provide the highest level of life support. 

"This is precisely why our teams prepare the way we do," says Dr. Gurpreet Sandhu, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. "When a patient like Ryan arrives, every link in the chain activates instantly. People from multiple specialties converge without hesitation. That kind of teamwork is what changes outcomes."

Even with the blockage cleared and mechanical support in place, Ryan remained in a fragile state as he was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU). Early neurological tests offered a quiet but meaningful hope — he could move his fingers and toes.

"That tiny movement meant everything," Chris says. "It told us Ryan was still in there fighting."

A dangerous turn

Two days later, a CT scan revealed a concerning blood clot. The scan also showed that Ryan was born with an unusual arterial configuration: a single shared artery supplying blood to his stomach, liver and bowels. Because of this rare anatomy, the clot created a complete blockage, leaving no alternate pathway for blood flow. 

Ryan still needed the Impella for circulatory support, but it was also putting pressure on the artery. Taking the device out could inadvertently move the clot into the aorta, creating the possibility that it might reach his brain or heart.

"His anatomy and the clot location created a perfect storm," says Dr. Jill Colglazier, a Mayo Clinic vascular surgeon. "We couldn't move forward without the entire care team planning every step together."

A multispecialty group of cardiologists, vascular surgeons, anesthesiologists, intensivists and ECMO specialists devised a creative plan in which the cardiac catheterization team would establish an alternative circulatory pathway by placing a device in Ryan's upper chest. Following this, the Impella would be removed, allowing vascular surgery to safely restore abdominal blood flow.

"What made this possible was not one specialty, but five or six working simultaneously," Dr. Colglazier says. "Everyone brought their expertise, and everyone trusted one another completely."

The surgery lasted nearly six hours and required careful timing, real-time communication and absolute precision. When it was complete, blood flow had been successfully restored.

Turning the corner in the ICU

The next morning, Ryan woke up alert and responsive. It was a pivotal moment for both his family and the medical team.

Now the focus shifted to determining whether his heart could function without the use of ECMO. The assessment required a multidisciplinary team at the bedside, including cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, ICU physicians, heart failure specialists, anesthesiologists and echocardiography experts.

Dr. Philip Spencer, a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon who leads the ECMO and Mechanical Circulatory Support programs, recalls the moment they tested Ryan's heart function. 

"When we slowly reduce ECMO flow, we're essentially asking the heart, ‘Can you take over now?'" Dr. Spencer says. "It is a powerful moment when you see it respond. There's a sense of collective relief because every team has been working toward that one goal."

Dr. Spencer credits the seamless teamwork for Ryan's recovery. 

"It's not a handoff from one specialty to the next," Dr. Spencer says. "It's multiple teams taking care of the same patient at the same time, each doing what they do best."

Ryan's heart held steady. The ECMO was removed, and for the first time since his collapse, he was breathing, beating and healing completely on his own.

Rebuilding strength and confidence

With the immediate danger behind him, Ryan began rehabilitation. He tackled small but meaningful steps: sitting up, walking short distances, lifting light weights and completing cognitive exercises. The ICU nurses and therapists encouraged him through each milestone.

One of the things Ryan remembers most was how often staff returned to check on him — even when they were not assigned to his care that day.

"They didn't just keep me alive," Ryan says. "They lifted me up. I felt like I was everyone's patient, not just one person's. Their teamwork made me feel like I wasn't doing this alone."

Chris felt that support too, 

"They cared about Ryan as a person," Chris says. "They cared about us as a family. That kind of compassion can't be taught."

Ryan completed cardiac rehabilitation, regained his stamina and later received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator as a long-term safety measure. Slowly, life returned to the rhythm he recognized.

Life renewed

Today, Ryan walks several miles a day, has returned to golfing and is coaching hockey again. Everyday moments, such as watching Justin skate, visiting his daughter at college and waking up next to Chris, have taken on deeper meaning. He understands just how close he came to losing them.

When he reflects on his survival, he thinks about the coordinated efforts of people who may never meet one another but were nonetheless part of the same chain: the nurse in the parking lot, first responders, Owatonna clinicians, Mayo's interventional cardiology team, ECMO specialists, vascular and cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, ICU nurses, rehabilitation therapists, and many others.

When Ryan tells his players, "We, not me," he now understands the phrase in a way only someone who has relied on an entire community of caregivers can truly understand.

"They gave me my husband back," Chris says. "I will never forget that."

And Ryan, back in the game he loves, simply says, "Every day is a gift."

Watch: Ryan Harrison's story

The post (VIDEO) Hockey coach back in the game after cardiac event, thanks to teamwork, quality care appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Sue Baker started having issues with her heart in 2015. By 2019, she began experiencing heart failure. Living in Southeast Georgia, her condition landed her in the hospital seven times before the last visit led to her being transferred to Mayo Clinic in Florida, nearly 90 minutes away, critically ill.

"She was really sick — in cardiogenic shock, intubated, connected to a breathing machine — she was not going to make it," says Dr. Parag Patel, a Mayo Clinic transplant cardiologist. "She only had three to six months to live, and we needed to act fast."

Watch: Sue Baker's story

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (2:21) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Sue's situation had become dire. She was presented with two options: enter hospice care or have a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implanted to serve as a bridge to a heart transplant. While she chose the LVAD to buy more time, by 2023 she was experiencing dangerous heart rhythms and other challenges.

Complicating matters, her body was producing more antibodies, making it increasingly difficult to find a suitable transplant donor.

"It was devastating to know that I'm actually going to die," says Sue. Still, she did not lose hope. "You just grab hold of God and keep praying," she says.

Sue's care team also remained determined to help her hold on. They explored an innovative approach — called Heart After Liver Transplant with a Domino Liver to another patient (HALT-D) — that had shown success in patients with similar antibody counts.

HALT-D, however, had never been attempted on someone with a heart pump like hers. This procedure would be a first for Mayo Clinic, at any of its transplant sites.

Although Sue's liver was healthy, she would need to get not just a heart transplant but also a donor liver to help remove the antibodies from her body and reduce the risk of her new heart being rejected. This meant a rare and complex domino transplant, involving both a liver and a heart, where Sue's liver would also become part of the donor chain.

"We take the liver of the patient who's receiving the heart after liver, and we take that liver and we put it into another recipient so that we do not waste an organ," says Patel.

Preparing for this complex procedure involved extensive multidisciplinary collaboration between a variety of Mayo Clinic departments. Sue spent months in the hospital, waiting for a match. During her wait, fellow patients and staff began calling her "mama" for the care and support she provided everyone else, despite her own challenges.

"We get to know each other and kind of help each other out," says Sue. "That was a lot of healing and helpfulness there."

"Sue not only helped people on the floor, but she's helped other patients who didn't have an opportunity" for transplant, says Patel.

Finally, in September 2024, the domino transplant was performed successfully.

Today, Sue is on the path to recovery, growing stronger each day. Her motivation to live is fueled by the desire to honor her donor, whose gift has given her a second chance at life.

"I would love to thank and meet the family," says Sue. "I'm not going to sit back and do nothing. That person will always be special."

Her story is a testament to the power of medical innovation, the dedication of healthcare professionals, and the resilience of the human spirit.

"I love her, and I appreciate the doctors and all the nurses that have been so loving and caring for Sue,” says Charlene Taylor, Sue's caretaker.

The post A Mayo first: Innovative transplant procedure saves patient’s life after heart failure appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A general manager of a professional sports team is a job that inherently comes with a high amount of stress, difficulty and demand — making important decisions that affect the future of a franchise.

But recently at Mayo Clinic, Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson made a crucial choice about his personal health that affects his own future — undergo another open-heart surgery or have a less invasive procedure to repair his heart.

Watch: Kyle Davidson's story

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (4:08) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

It's something Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson has had to deal with all his life.

"I was born with tetralogy of Fallot. It's a congenital heart defect. I needed two open-heart surgeries right around when I was a year old," Kyle says.

Five years ago, at the age of 31, Kyle had another open-heart surgery to place a new pulmonary valve inside his heart.

"It's pretty heavy surgery and long recovery. It was about one and a half, two months," he says.

But five years later, he's having trouble with his heart again.

"I've had a couple, you know, I'd call them episodes over the last number of months, where it didn't feel normal," Kyle says.

And at 36 years old, he's back in the hospital.

"I've learned that that valve is no longer working properly again, and intervention was needed," Kyle says.

"He was noticing a limitation in his ability to exercise to his peak potential. And when we hear a limitation for exercise tolerance, to me, that is a big red flag," says Dr. Jason Anderson, an interventional cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. "His valve was regurgitant, meaning he would send the blood forward. Part of the blood would come backward, and part would go forward. So every heartbeat, he's having some wasted flow that he's trying to keep up with. So your body compensates for that by trying to go faster and beat harder."

A replacement pulmonary valve is needed. There are two options: another open-heart surgery or a less invasive transcatheter procedure.

"With all things being equal and having the two options on the table, I certainly preferred and was happy that the transcatheter approach was something that was applicable to my case," Kyle says.

"Compared to 2019 when I had my open-heart surgery, I'm just at a very different point in my life, you know. I do have the general manager's job. I do have two kids that weren't around five years ago. You have to make sure that you're putting yourself in the best situation, from a health standpoint, to be there for them for a long time," he adds.

At Mayo Clinic, pulmonary valve replacement can be performed on eligible patients as a same-day transcatheter procedure — meaning no open-heart surgery and, typically, no hospital stay. It requires only a mild form of sedation and usually takes under an hour to perform.

"The procedure is basically to give him a new valve within his existing, surgically placed valve. We do that through a catheter method, where you place equipment into the heart. We work through a large tube that goes through the vein in his leg," says Dr. Allison Cabalka, an interventional cardiologist at Mayo Clinic.

"When that valve is deployed and opened, in the next heartbeat, he has his new valve functioning brand-new, right out of the box," says Dr. Anderson.

Another aspect of this procedure that sets Mayo apart is that it’s done in tandem by two Mayo Clinic cardiologists through a method called co-scrubbing.

"When Dr Anderson and I are working together, we often think of it as two co-pilots," says Dr. Cabalka. "If we have anything that's unexpected, we have collaborative decision, we have immediate response, and we have the ability to take care of any potential complications or any potential barriers to success to make that procedure go as smoothly as possible."

And just a few hours after the procedure, Kyle is out of the hospital, heading home and back to work.

"I'm very fortunate that there are medical advances to the point where I don't have to step away, I don't have to miss any significant time," Kyle says.

Kyle’s experience is typical for patients at Mayo Clinic undergoing this procedure.

"It's not an exception that he went home the same day, that is now the norm," says Dr. Anderson. "His body is now able to achieve the same amount of forward flow with less stress and less exertion."

"Now that we're a couple weeks out and I'm back to my normal routine, I feel 100%. I feel great," Kyle says.

The post (VIDEO) Hockey exec wins faceoff against heart issue appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

It was the evening of April 4, 2024 on a concert stage in Gilbert, Arizona.

Colt Ford and his band were performing their signature blend of country, rap and hip-hop music. It was a sold-out crowd. Colt was feeling at the top of his game, and the concert was shaping up to be one of the band's best shows ever.

No one expected how this night would end.

Watch Colt Ford's story of survival

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (3:52) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"Like it was really clicking. We had just made some changes in the set and it was feeling really good. The vibe was good, it all felt good," remembers Colt. "My stage manager said 'That's the best show we've done this year, man, you killed it,' It was incredible."

At the end of the show Colt thanked fans, turned and exited the stage.

No one expected what happened minutes later

"I woke up seven or eight days later, whatever, and I woke up in the hospital and was like 'What's going on?' I had no concept of anything," says Colt. "When I played the show that night I could do anything but when I woke up in the hospital I couldn't pick up a cup with ice in it and feed it to myself."

Minutes after exiting the stage, Colt suffered a massive heart attack. He was found slumped over in a chair backstage by one of his fellow band members. Emergency crews responded immediately and Colt was rushed to the hospital.

"When one of the top heart doctors in the world looks at you and goes 'You're 1% of 1%,' it can't get anymore dire than that," says Colt about his odds of surviving his heart attack.

Colt went into cardiac arrest twice. He was revived with electric shocks from a defibrillator to restart his heart in both instances. "He would simply not have survived in most parts of the world that don't have access to such a high level of cardiogenic shock care. Most people do not survive globally," says Dr. Kwan Lee, interventional cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. Lee is part of the multidisciplinary team overseeing Colt's care at Mayo Clinic. Colt also underwent a 10-hour surgery and, for a time, was placed in a medically induced coma.

A silent killer

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. One of the most common types of cardiovascular disease is a heart attack. In the United States alone, it is estimated that every 40 seconds, someone has a heart attack.

Doctors often warn about the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, and fatigue. However, roughly 21% of heart attacks in the U.S. occur with minimal or even no symptoms, according to the American Heart Association. These "silent" heart attacks are known as silent ischemia or silent myocardial infarction.

Colt says he had recently undergone a regular check-up at a different medical center and got a clean bill of health.

"This is the unfortunate nature of heart attacks. It is possible to have tests which don't show blockages, but the nature of blockages is that they can behave unpredictably and suddenly occur," says Dr. Lee. "Despite our best efforts, on a populational level, heart attacks can still occur in patients out of the blue."

Nearly nine months after his heart attack, test results at Mayo Clinic indicate Colt is making excellent progress. Exercise combined with a heart-healthy diet has helped him shed 60 pounds. "I'm about back to being in my college shape," says Colt, who played on the golf team for the University of Georgia before his singing career took off.

While his physical health improves, Colt admits the health scare has left him battling anxiety and panic attacks. "For me to say I'm having anxiety and panic attacks, that's even hard for me to say because I ain't scared of nothing," Colt says. "But I'm having to deal with that and share my feelings and all that kind of stuff. So, if you're feeling something, advocate for yourself. Don't just tough it out. Tell somebody."

Dr. Lee says it is not uncommon for patients to experience anxiety, panic attacks and even depression following a heart attack. He recommends patients maintain an open dialogue with their health care team and discuss any issues that arise.

"I'm back, baby!"

Colt has been open about sharing his experience with his nearly three million followers on social media. "I'm back, baby!" Colt shared recently on Instagram. "It's been quite a journey but you guys have inspired me, you kept loving me, kept praying for me, kept sending me messages and I'm working hard to get better."

Just a year shy of his heart attack, Colt has released a new song and is embarking on a new tour. He is hoping his music and story will serve as inspiration for others.

Related stories

• Spotlight on early detection of 3 heart diseases using ECG-AI 
• To combat heart disease and cancer, genomics researcher looks abroad
• Heart Transplant Innovation: New ‘heart in a box’ technology provides gift of life to Arizona man, as couple prepares to celebrate 50-year anniversary

The post (VIDEO) Country rap musician Colt Ford shares his personal story of surviving a near-fatal heart attack appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Rich Bugay had an appointment with the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on a Monday, where he had hoped to get answers and relief for what he thought was refractory acid reflux — until his doctor discovered a heart murmur. The next morning, Rich was told he had congenital heart disease and a severely dilated aorta that could rupture. Just two days later, Rich underwent lifesaving heart surgery. After a whirlwind four days, Rich was on the road to recovery.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Rich Bugay, an HVAC business owner, husband, and father to two children, hadn't been feeling well for over a year. What started out as sinus issues gradually turned into severe acid reflux and exhaustion, making it hard for Rich to get through the workday.

"I wasn't feeling well — I had a lot of acid reflux and stomach discomfort. I had been going to a lot of different doctor visits, like my family practitioner, and I wasn't getting any answers," says Rich. "And so, at some point, I decided I wanted to go to the best place I could go."

Watch: Rich's story

Rich and his wife, Lori, left their house in Escanaba, Michigan, and drove more than six hours to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for an appointment with Dr. Houssam Halawi, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist.

During the appointment, Dr. Halawi listened to Rich's history, concerns and symptoms.

"And what caught my attention was, he had a lot of different symptoms that didn't really belong in the GI (gastrointestinal) world," says Dr. Halawi. "And at that point, in my mind, I was thinking this is not an acid reflux problem."

When Dr. Halawi listened to Rich's heart, he heard a suspicious murmur. He knew something — potentially big — was going on, and he recommended that Rich receive an urgent echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is a common test that uses sound waves to create pictures of the heart to find heart disease and other heart conditions.  

Rich was hesitant to have the echocardiogram since he just wanted some relief from his presumed acid reflux and didn't think he had a life-threatening issue.

Knowing that Rich would most likely go home if the echocardiogram couldn't be scheduled quickly, Dr. Halawi asked the scheduling team if there was any way they could arrange the echocardiogram for the next day. When the scheduler asked, "Would tomorrow morning work for you?" Dr. Halawi didn't expect it to be that quick.

Rich and Lori decided to stay at Mayo Clinic for the echocardiogram the next morning.

Confirming suspicions

Kylie Marvin, the sonographer who performed the echocardiogram, immediately noticed something was seriously wrong. She walked out into the hallway and informed Dr. Charles Jain, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, about her findings.

"His aorta was severely dilated, well over what we would traditionally consider as the surgical cutoff for elective intervention," says Dr. Jain.

A severely enlarged aorta — the pipe that delivers blood out of the heart — could have acute complications, such as a rupture, which can be life-threatening.

The echocardiogram also showed that Rich had a bicuspid aortic valve.

The aortic valve usually has three cusps. A bicuspid valve has only two cusps. Rich's bicuspid valve wasn't closing tightly, which was causing blood to flow backward.

Dr. Jain called a radiologist and arranged an urgent CT scan for Rich that same day. The results of the CT scan confirmed the findings, and Dr. Jain called Dr. Gabor Bagameri, a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon, who was willing to make room in his schedule to quickly see Rich and arrange for surgery.

"At Mayo Clinic, the needs of the patient always come first, and even in the middle of the night, 24/7, you can always reach for help," says Dr. Bagameri.

He encouraged Rich that his heart problems were fixable and advised him not to wait to undergo surgery.

"He let me think about it and came back into the room about five minutes later and he says, 'OK, so we're going to do this Thursday, right?' I say, 'You know it.' And he says, 'I knew you were going to say that!' So, we were ready," says Rich.

"Like a well-oiled machine"

On the day of the surgery, Rich said everything was very structured and organized. The surgery itself was a success, as was his hospital stay.

"Like a well-oiled machine, everything just went so well, so smoothly," says Lori. "I've never experienced anything like that before, and that's how healthcare should be everywhere. Everyone deserves to be treated like they do here."

Now, nearly six months after his procedure, Rich feels almost 100% better.

"They saved my life," says Rich. "I'm a completely different person — I feel like a million bucks. I can do what I want to do, and my energy levels are much better."

Looking back on the experience, Dr. Halawi recognizes that Rich wouldn't have had such a positive outcome without every single person involved at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Jain echoes that sentiment, "When there are patients who are having a significant abnormality, particularly with urgency, such as Rich's, everything is already set up for teamwork to be natural, and fortunately, this makes it all relatively seamless."

Reflecting on his healthcare journey, Rich says that you need to advocate for yourself.

"If you haven’t been feeling right for a long time and feel like you're not getting answers, come to Mayo Clinic because they'll get to the bottom of it," says Rich.

The post ‘I’m so happy we’re here:’ An unexpected diagnosis saves Rich Bugay’s life appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.