February 18, 2013
Man feels 20 years younger after Cardiovascular Surgery
By MakalaArce
My name is Bill Kalmer, and I have been a patient for the past 24 years at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My medical problems have been primarily cardiac in nature. I have had an AICD (automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator) for the past 24 yrs. My condition began to deteriorate 2 yrs ago and […]
Tags: 1477, 5253, 5335, automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator, Bill Kalmer, cardiovascular surgery, congestive heart failure, Dr. Hartzell Schaff
November 23, 2012
Alvin Haworth: Trust Yourself —and Keep Asking Questions
When a heart condition threatened to slow down Alvin Haworth, he found his answer at Mayo Clinic.
Tags: 3781, 4260, 5252, 5253, 5335, Alvin Haworth, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Mayo Clinic, Steve Ommen M.D.
May 1, 2012
Last spring, Ravuth Thorng, then just 24, noticed it was increasingly difficult to do ordinary tasks, such as walking to his car. “I felt out of breath walking from my parking spot to work,” says Thorng, who worked at a home improvement store in Rochester, Minn. In retrospect, he recalls that during the previous winter, […]
Tags: 5252, 5253, 5335, Quadruple Bypass, Ravuth Thorng
September 1, 2011
David Hawley: Overcoming Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
What began as an isolated episode of shortness of breath and developed into symptoms of increasing fatigue in 2008, turned into an unexpected and serious medical condition for David Hawley, a retired hotel executive in Phoenix, Arizona. David Hawley received the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a genetic predisposition to abnormal thickening of the heart […]
Tags: 3999, 4260, 5252, 5253, 5333, 5334, Arizona, David Holmes, Hartzell Schaff, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Mayo Clinic, myectomy
May 20, 2011
Pen pals share experiences with congenital heart defects
Born almost 60 years apart, pen pals Carol Allan and Alli Szewczynski share an unusual bond. Both were “blue babies,” born with heart defects that impaired proper blood circulation, causing a blue tinge to their skin. And both had successful life-changing surgeries at Mayo Clinic. Carol Allan’s story Carol, 68, of Calgary, Alberta, was diagnosed […]
Tags: 1491, 4256, 5253, 5306, 5335, Alli_Szewczynski, Carol_Allan, Congenital_heart_disease
December 1, 2009
Mike’s Mechanical Aortic Valve
By Lee Aase
Editor’s Note: Mike from the Minneapolis area sent us this message on the day after Thanksgiving, as he wanted to share his gratitude for the care he received at Mayo Clinic earlier this year. His story is below; here are options for how you can share your story. Hello my name is Mike, and in […]
Tags: 1490, 4173, 5141, 5253, 5335, aortic valve, bicuspid aortic valve, Cardiac surgery, Cardiology, Hartzell Schaff, Heart & Heart Surgery, Mayo Clinic
October 12, 2009
Michigan man’s care highlights Mayo’s culture, expertise
By Traci Klein
Just days after being told he had a tumor inside his heart, Ron Reffitt Jr., of Elk Rapids, Mich., was on a medical airplane headed to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Gazing down at Lake Michigan on that beautiful sunny day in January 2009, he wondered: Is this the last time I’ll see this? His […]
Tags: 5252, 5253, 5335, Cardiology, Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Nkomo, Reffitt, Schaff
October 4, 2009
Jillayn Hey’s “Remarkable” Mayo Clinic Story
By Lee Aase
Editor’s Note: Jillayn Hey, a Mayo Clinic patient from LaCrosse, WI, sent this story via email. I recently read an article titled; “Want to Heal? Tell Your Story. Narrative medicine boosts our bodies and souls”, Utne Reader (Sept.-Oct. 2009). The basis of the article is that through telling our personal stories of illness and disease, […]
Tags: 5142, 5253, 5335, heart valve repair, Mayo Clinic, Robotic Surgery