Patient Stories

Richard's LVAD: A Destination Therapy

A pilot for Pan AM and United Airlines, Richard Stowe took a leave of absence in 1999 to have surgery on his knee. While he was recovering, his physicians discovered an arrhythmia and later, performed an ablation procedure to correct the arrhythmia.

In 2000, Richard had bypass surgery followed by a mitral valve repair. Months later he required an ICD-an implantable cardioverter defibrillator-to regulate his heartbeat.

As the years went by, his heart kept getting larger and in 2006, his cardiologist referred him to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, where his cardiologist explained that he would benefit from an LVAD.

Stories of Hope: John Whitley

My name is John Whitley, and I have lived in Nyack for 25 years. In January 2011, I got sick, then rapidly sicker. At first they thought I had a gall bladder problem, but when I didn't improve after gall bladder removal, I was referred to New York Presbyterian Hospital. Many, many tests finally revealed that I was in the early stages of pancreatic cancer.

Columbia Patient Donates Left Lobe of Liver to Her Fiancé

When Megan Ellerd and Steven Ferretti met seven years ago, it was "instant love," she says. Not long after, the young couple found out that Steven had autoimmune hepatitis — but they didn't worry too much about it, hoping that it wouldn't affect them until much later in life. In 2008, however, the two were happily engaged when Steven's condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. His liver was failing, and he needed a transplant.

Joe's LVAD: One Step Closer to a New Heart

A tall, rugged twenty-year old at Rutgers University, Joe Deen spent a lot of time outdoors, hiking, backpacking and working at a Boy Scout camp. In 2006, he developed brachycardia, an unusually slow heartbeat, that doctors linked to Lyme disease. But when the tests for Lyme were inconclusive and the problem persisted, Joe received a pacemaker.

One year later, he was diagnosed with heart block and learned that he was in the early stages of congestive heart failure.

In 2009, just months after his graduation, Joe's heart wasn't pumping enough blood so Dr. Yoshifumi Naka performed an emergency LVAD surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.