Stepping to the (heart) beat: How cardiac care gave Rodger a second chance
Patient Story
Rodger Allen was shimmying on the dance floor after wrapping up emcee duties at his niece’s summer wedding in Thunder Bay.
But while his feet stepped to the music, his chest pulled a new move.
Feeling as if a vice grip was tightening under his arms, Rodger stopped dancing and took a seat. After 10 minutes, the pressure had eased, but the worry started to build.
“In the back of my mind, I knew something was up,” he says. “It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t normal.”
Rodger, a 59-year-old semi-retired gym teacher, had dedicated most of his life to coaching and fitness. An avid cyclist and runner, he thought maybe the incident was a one-off – until the vice grip feeling returned at the airport the next day, and again when he got back to his Waterloo home.
The call
With his wife and sons now alarmed, the family called an ambulance. Tests by the paramedics showed Rodger wasn’t experiencing an active heart attack, but they took him to Waterloo Regional Health Network @ Queen’s Blvd., (formerly St. Mary’s General Hospital) for further assessment.
An angiogram in the cardiac catheterization (cath) lab revealed a 90 per cent blockage in Rodger’s left anterior descending (LAD) artery.
Medical professionals call a full blockage in the LAD “the widow-maker” heart attack – fatal more than 80 per cent of the time when not immediately treated.
Upon discovering the block in the cath lab, the interventional cardiologist inserted a stent in Rodger’s artery to prevent a heart attack.
The talk
After the procedure, the doctor wheeled Rodger into a recovery room and spoke to him candidly.
“He said: ‘It’s a good thing you came in today,’” Rodger recalls, feeling the emotion of the moment as he talks about it months later.
One more run, one more ride on your bicycle, that would have been it for you.
Rodger, now fully recovered from his heart event, thinks about those words often.
With each step he takes on his neighbourhood runs, he’s filled with gratitude for the care he received at WRHN, both in the cath lab and in the cardiac rehab program after his procedure.
Impact that hits home
One of WRHN’s top funding priorities is constructing and equipping a third cath lab that will bring more timely cardiac care to the community while expanding the scope of services offered.
The cath lab is an integral part of the Regional Cardiac Care Centre, treating active heart attacks and diagnosing significant heart issues – like Rodger’s – daily.
“Talking to the doctor, it hit me that they saved my life that day,” Rodger says. “And then I saw my cardiac rehab class and the 20 other people whose lives were saved around the same time. That’s a testament to the care we have here."
My heart event was a shock – it still is a shock – but it drives me to do better every day.
Be part of a generational opportunity to strengthen our health network.
Support new ways to connect the nearly 1.5 million people across WRHN’s catchment area to the care they deserve.