James Clark, Parkwest’s 100th TAVR Patient, is ‘Back to Active’ One Month Later

 

James Clark
“I’ve got a new valve – a new aortic valve – and in 31 days I am able to go golfing and walk two miles,” said Clark. “How in the world are you going to have enough superlatives for something like that?’”

James Clark began having difficulty completing his daily two-mile neighborhood walk. “Any type of exertion and I would get a lot of pressure and pain in my heart area,” says Clark, 82 years old. “It got to where I couldn’t walk up any type of hill and with any type of stress or pressure, I would get the pain.”

James had undergone open-heart surgery over twenty years ago, during which he had five coronary bypasses. When faced again with the need for surgery, he feared he might not survive a second time. “I thought I might have to get opened up again, and at my age, I might not make it. My valve had calcified and I had less than two years to live if I didn’t do anything.”

Fortunately, Clark had a new option: TAVR. He became the 100th TAVR patient at Parkwest. The procedure took a little more than an hour. Within three days, Clark was back home. And within a month, he was back to walking two miles a day and working on his golf game.

“I’ve got a new valve – a new aortic valve – and in 31 days I am able to go golfing and walk two miles,” said Clark. “How in the world are you going to have enough superlatives for something like that?”

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