Patient Talk

Heart Failure Patient Goes from the Transplant List to the 5K Finish Line

Talk to your
doctor about
important safety
information.

Three years ago, Stan Wilson was talking to his wife Gaye about where she could bury him. “My mom and dad had bought a plot of land, and when they bought it, they had three slots; one for each of them, and an extra one. I was saying, Gaye, you need to put me here. You need to go on with your life.”

Diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2001, Stan's doctor had told him that they had done all they could with medication. He told Stan they needed to start the process of getting him on the list for a heart transplant.

Stan explains, “I had been through all the regimens of the medicine that you can go through, and had even been on the highest dosage of Coreg that helps my heart. I was at a plateau and I wasn't getting any better.”

Today, after having received a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) device (also called a biventricular pacemaker-defibrillator) in 2006, Stan, now 48, is living life to the fullest. “The beautiful thing about this biventricular pacemaker is there really isn't anything that I can't do.”

Stan's active lifestyle means much time spent working in the yard, working out at the gym every night, deer hunting and even snorkeling again.

“I can remember going to the Gulf of Mexico with my family. Before my CRT device, I would jump off the back of the boat and after about 20 to 30 yards, I'd be gasping for breath. My poor wife and I had to swim back to our boat and wait for everybody else to go snorkel and swim. Our kids were chasing a small shark and I couldn't do it…I couldn't keep up with them. Now I just don't have a problem with that.”

A badly timed diagnosis

Heart failure can happen at any age, but is most common in people over age 65.¹ Stan was 42 when he was diagnosed with heart failure—and it was just two days before he and Gaye got married. “I went to see my regular family physician because I felt like I had a cold and I wasn't getting over it.”

After running a battery of tests and then doing a chest x-ray, Stan's enlarged heart was evident. The doctor wanted to put him in the hospital. Stan resisted because of his impending wedding, and went to see a cardiologist the next day. His heart failure diagnosis was confirmed and his cardiologist said they would start him on some medications.

Stan explains Gaye's reaction, “I think she was shocked to hear about the congestive heart failure. But the one that really, really set us back was when the cardiologist told us a few years later, ‘I think we have done everything we can do. We need to start you down the process of the heart transplant.' That one was really a punch in the gut.”

From transplant list to device recipient

After hearing the transplant news, Stan was more determined than ever to improve his heart function. “I started exercising, even more religiously than I had before, meaning 45 minutes on the elliptical machine in the morning and 45 minutes at night. Just to prove that I did not need a new heart. Over time I gradually got a little better.”

In May 2005, Stan's heart had improved enough that his cardiologist suggested the option of a biventricular pacemaker-defibrillator. “He said ‘No big deal; I just want to plant the seed in your head. It might be something really good for you, because with congestive heart failure you very well may be at risk for sudden cardiac death.'” He told Stan just to think about it and that they would talk about it next year.

Meanwhile, Stan's heart failure was taking its toll on his active lifestyle. His regular exercise routine was to run, use the treadmill, elliptical, and then do weights. “If I did that for three days in a row at night, I would get to the point on that fourth day that I would be dead tired. It would take me a week to recuperate. Then I would try it again. It was a vicious cycle. I wasn't getting any better.”

In March 2006, Stan told his cardiologist he was ready to try a device. He received one that May. “As soon as they programmed this (biventricular) pacemaker in my heart—as soon as I woke up—I could tell right then that it was working. Before, whenever I would lie down in bed, my hands would get tingly, because my blood flow was so poor. I can remember waking up in the bed, looking at my wife, and telling her ‘it's working.'” His hands were no longer tingling.

Setting his sights on a marathon

After that, Stan said he started thinking, “What is the craziest thing I can do with this thing?” He decided it would be to run a marathon. He began training and ran a 5K in October 2007. After he finished the race, his wife looked at him in amazement and said, “You're not even breathing hard.”

Stan got to the point where he was running up to about six miles a night, but when he began to feel the effects on his legs, he ultimately had to sideline his marathon goal. “Between my shin splints and tight calves, I just couldn't overcome them. But it was never a heart issue.”

Although he's not running marathons, Stan is still exercising regularly and doesn't feel limited. “Right now I just do basically anything that I want to do. I have been able to go hunting with my stepson and shoot deer—big deer—and drag them through thickets a couple hundred yards where it is just the two of us. You have to drag the deer; there is no vehicle.”

And he now jokingly gives his doctor—who is a fellow hunter—a hard time. “He told me he needed to get in shape. I told him, ‘Hey—I am at the gym every night. You are welcome to come!'”

“I would've been begging for a pacemaker”

Stan's non-stop energy is also evident in his professional life—he has an engineering degree, an MBA and also attended law school for a few years. He works for a gas company in a broad-based business development role, where he does marketing, engineering, economic analysis and contract reviews.

The engineer in him appreciates the specialized device technology. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have been begging for a biventricular pacemaker as soon as my ejection fraction went below 20 percent.”

The ejection fraction is the percentage of blood your heart pumps with each heartbeat. A healthy heart pumps at least one half of the blood (50 percent) the ventricles receive with each beat. Stan's ejection fraction was only at about 10 to 15 percent.

Looking toward the future

Stan uses the LATITUDE® Remote Monitoring system with his Boston Scientific device and says it works great. “I get up on Monday morning and it reads my implanted heartdevice. I can monitor my blood pressure and weight and the Communicator sends it in to the doctor, so that is very convenient.”

The engineer in him is looking forward to what technological advancements the future could hold. Stan has a personal vision of what these might be. “I am looking forward to the next technology where they have little antennas on these things and I can go to Starbucks and have my doctor read it from there. Or if I have a Bluetooth phone, I should be able to dial up my phone and maybe even have them adjust it over a Bluetooth phone.”

Today, instead of planning his funeral, Stan and Gaye, along with their grown son Robert, have something much more wonderful to look forward to—an upcoming wedding for daughter Carli.

Stan is thrilled. “I have the opportunity to throw her a wedding that she deserves, walk her down the isle, and do all the wedding things that she has dreamed of. It (this device) has made such a difference in my life.”

1. American College of Cardiology website, www.acc.org , accessed July 7, 2008

Note: Individual symptoms, situations, results, and circumstances may vary. Please consult your doctor or qualified health provider regarding your condition and appropriate medical treatment. Your doctor will help decide what activities and activity level are right for you. The information provided is not intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice .

Talk to your doctor about important safety information.