1 out of every 5 deaths in the United Stated is the result of coronary heart disease.
Tim’s Story
After angioplasty and stents, heart disease patient is back on the soccer field
Tim was no stranger to exercise. At age 56, he was a regular at the YMCA, lifting weights and doing a variety of aerobic exercises. Then one day, he noticed that he was feeling unusually winded after a workout and there was some tightness in his chest. “I thought it was my lungs and went to an allergist, who checked me out and sent me to have my heart checked,” says Tim
An angiogram confirmed that Tim had blockages in his blood vessels, one of which was dramatically restricting blood flow in a major coronary artery. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, an interventional cardiologist at George Washington University Hospital, performed angioplasty to open those blockages. Dr. Reiner inserted four stents – slender mesh-like tubes that prop open the arteries and keep them from clogging up again.
Heart disease runs in Tim’s family. His father had undergone heart-bypass surgery just a few years before Tim’s procedure. “I thought I’d avoid heart disease because I’ve always exercised and taken care of myself,” says Tim. “Now I know I do have heart disease, but I feel great. I’ve made some changes to my diet and I’m on medications, but I’m back to my normal life.”
For Tim, normal life is traveling, riding bikes and hiking with his wife and children, and coaching his son’s soccer team.
“It was a happy miracle,” says Tim.