Tim Fitzgerald (37) was referred to the Smidt Heart Institute after an attempt to address congenital aortic valve stenosis at another hospital failed due to a hostile chest cavity.
I was born with a congenital heart disease called aortic stenosis. I had surgery when I was about four weeks old. The surgery was a success. And, uh, the, the best thing they said for, for to do was to do nothing until symptoms started to arise, which didn't happen until I was 35. I work in road construction and it's a very physical job and I had shortness of breath and I was very fatigued and I couldn't perform in my job duties as I used to be able to, when I started having all these symptoms, I realized I needed to see a cardiologist and figure out what was happening, put us in a very hopeless position because, you know, we had, at that time, had seen four doctors who, who are all saying the same thing is that we can't help you. We don't know what to do. Sorry. She started the appointment off with just I'm sorry, you guys have been through what you've been through, which was big because at that point, we were hopeless going from feeling like it wasn't gonna be fixable to it's fixable and you have options. So after we reviewed all of the options together. We really all agreed that the right option for him was a procedure called the Ross procedure where we move a valve from the right side of his heart to the left side. Um It's complex. Only a few centers I think do that really well. Um But that offers him a lifelong solution with no need for a blood thinner. Uh His procedure was far more successful than I could have hoped. And he got a beautiful result. I think he left the hospital within four or five days. Um And he felt better really, really quickly, but it made the whole team feel really magical. I feel like my heart is in the best condition it's ever been. Even before I had the symptoms, there was always limitations to my heart because of the congenital defect it had. So I feel like I'm 10 years younger and there's hope in a future, hope in a future, a possibility that wasn't there before. It's huge. Doctor Chi Way. Thank you for giving me my life back and uh having such an amazing team and giving us hope and changing all our life.
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