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| Larry with his wife, Karen and grandchildren |
Five years ago in June, I completed a 75 mile charity bike
ride--a proud achievement and testimony to my level of fitness to complete the
ride. The next day I didn’t feel at my
best and wrote it off to the heat and the fatigue from the day before and
thought nothing more of it. Then
about a week later I went to bed early
not feeling well. I awoke at three in
the morning with a pain in my chest that felt like someone tightening a strap
around it and had a VERY rapid heartbeat.
I drove myself to the local ER and called Karen, my fiancee, on the
way. About halfway there all the pain went
away and my heart rate returned to normal.
I decided to continue on to the ER and have all this checked out. The ER Doctor checked me out for all common
heart issues since my symptoms clearly indicated a heart problem, but all the
tests turned up negative. Just as they
were readying to release me, recommending that I go see my family practice
doctor for more testing, the heart monitor and alarms started going off!! Karen and I
were startled with all of the noise in my room and knew something drastic
had happened. The ER doctor rushed in
and studied the heart monitor and declared confidently, “You have atrial
fibrillation. We will need to transfer
you to the main hospital for further testing.”
Thus began my journey from a fit man in his 50s to a heart patient
overnight. Karen began a journey with
me, but also resumed a journey she had previously traveled . Her father had AFibs and had died from a
stroke caused by his AFibs in 1991. I
was unaware her father’s AFibs had
caused his premature death, and it was awhile before she revealed this to
me. So that day we both began a journey
with her family history and my experiences.
Following my transfer from the ER, the Wake Med cardiologist
assigned to my case ran a battery of
tests on my heart. After my release from
the hospital, I started regularly seeing a cardiologist. After
three months of ever increasing medications after each new episode of
AFibs, my cardiologist referred me to a local EP (Electrophysiologist). After his involvement, we were referred to another EP specialist at
the Medical University of SC to have an
ablation preformed. I studied intently what was involved in the ablation, and
with my background in computers and engineering understood the high tech nature
of this still experimental procedure. Without research dollars these
specialized procedures would not be available.
My ablation was preformed in Charleston and after extensive testing I
was declared cure of AFibs!!! Only then did I find out about Karen's dad.
I knew that my procedure would not have been possible
without intense research into atrial fibrillation and the work of organizations
involved in heart health. We knew that
we needed to support the American Heart Association with our gifts and
work. Karen and I support the heart walk
and make a yearly donation to the American Heart Association.
This year while vacationing in Florida with friends, I again
started feeling badly--light headiness, dizziness and fatigue with my heart
racing at times. We scheduled a visit to
my local cardiologist and he determined that I fall in the 15% that experience
relapses after having a successful ablation.
We decided that we needed to do more to help the American Heart
Association in both their efforts to fund
research as well as in educating the public about heart disease.
We have both joined the “You're the Cure” team (www.yourethecure.org) of the American
Heart Association. We want to be able to
impact our lives and those of the lives around us. We are especially concerned that future
generations do not have to suffer with heart disease, especially atrial
fibrillation. We encourage all of you to contribute your gifts to them and join
us in the You're the Cure team. Future
generations depend on us!
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