The London Health Sciences Centre made history last week with the successful implant of two trans-catheter aortic valves. Linda Poeltl and Rosa Masherin were able to undergo a life changing heart surgery that would have typically been a long and risky open heart surgery.
Thanks to recent medical advancements, both valve replacements were able to be implanted directly through the main aorta. This new technique is far safer, with shorter recovery time. It also brings about new options for patients that would have previously been considered too risky. Both woman have since recovered, and are thanking Dr. Bob Kiaii for a life changing Canadian first.
Laurie Wood and Baby Jasmine.
With one third of Canadians dying every year from cardiovascular disease, Heart diseases’ remain one of the leading causes of death to Canadians. Almost all Canadians know someone, or have a cardiovascular disease: heart defects effect all Canadians.
One heart patient, Laurie Wood, knows the pain of heart defects. Heart issue’s run in her family, going as far back as her grandfather. Wood’s grandfather had a hole in his heart, Wood has a congenital heart defect that will lead to her having open heart surgery by the age of 50. Both of her children have heart murmurs along with other small complications. Wood’s first granddaughter, now 1 and a half years old, lives with a major heart complication. Baby Jasmine had to undergo open heart surgery at just five days old, and will continue complex surgery’s every few years throughout her life.
Heart survivors like Laurie Wood continue to “Hope for advancements, and it’s just amazing how far science comes and the new advancements that come all the time.”
Despite the many challenges that her family has faced, Wood is “Blessed in this country to have the medical teams and advancements that we have everyday.”
