When long-time Scottsdale resident Jerry Turney, 75, talks about life before his new heart valve, he likes to have his wife, Grace, by his side to help him describe his illness.
“I was just in a fog. I was just in Never-Never Land,” the former California Army police supervisor and retired health insurance manager says of the times he spent 12-14 hours a day sleeping in his recliner, so only Grace followed the details of his medical condition and treatment.
“I felt so bad for so long, I hadn’t realized it’s such an insidious thing that kind of sneaks up on you, and you eventually realize that you’re not doing the things you used to do,” he said.
The Turney’s recalled how Jerry’s heart challenges began about 25 years ago when he was walking their Boxer dogs. He began to suffer shortness of breath and couldn’t keep up with his energetic pets.
Jerry attributes his heart problems, in part, to a family history of heart disease, both inherited and self-inflicted. His mother, his father “and everybody else” had heart problems.
“We were raised on a farm in the Ozark Mountains (Harrison, Ark.). About every meal had its share of pork and everything else. Pork grease on your salad,” he said. “There was always a pot on the back of the stove with hot bacon grease to put on everything.”
Over the years he survived two heart attacks, including one in which Jerry drove himself to HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center because Grace was in Wisconsin at the funeral of one of her grandmothers, and on another occasion when Jerry flatlined and had to be revived.
He would go on to have open-heart surgery, a triple coronary artery bypass; and a series of procedures to implant stents, a pacemaker and a defibrillator. Combined with a series of cardio rehabilitation sessions, Jerry had good quality of life for many of the 36 years the couple has lived in Scottsdale, playing music and dabbling in ventures with longtime friends and business partners, especially since retiring in 2017: “You’ve got to stay busy; keep your mind working.”
Of course, some things simply wear out with age and with the passing of years Jerry’s physical condition deteriorated. His health further declined when he contracted and was hospitalized by COVID, followed by a stroke.
In February, 2022, Jerry’s doctors realized that he was suffering from a faulty mitral valve, the critical valve between the heart’s left atrium and left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, which pumps oxygenated blood in from the lungs and out to the body. The faulty valve was letting more blood back up into the atrium than was getting to the ventricle. He was given the options of having a heart transplant or receiving an experimental replacement valve.
Opting for replacement heart valve
Jerry was referred to Dr. David Rizik, Research Division Director of the Cardiovascular Research Division at HonorHealth Research Institute, who enrolled Jerry in a clinical trial using an artificial mitral heart valve that did not require open-heart surgery.
Instead, the valve was implanted in June, 2022, via a micro-incision in the chest and then with a large needle directly into position within the heart, where it opened up like a flower to properly regulate the blood flow.
“It was a miracle. By the time I woke up, I felt very much in the moment. It wasn’t but a couple of days that I was up walking all over the place. No pain. No loss of breath. I felt great,” Jerry said. “I was like a kid with a new toy. I was everywhere.”
Grace said she knew Jerry was much better one day when he had a huge grin on his face: “He took the garbage out! He hadn’t taken the garbage out for a year.”
Ready to ride Scottsdale’s greenbelt
“I can’t tell you how much better I feel,” agreed Jerry, who is working out three days a week, counting at least 10,000 steps and looking forward to cooler weather this fall when he can get on his 27-speed racing tricycle: “The days that I don’t work out, I will be (on the trike) on the greenbelt in Scottsdale, all over the place for 10-15 miles. I love it.”
Meantime, the couple recently enjoyed a 3-week trip to Iceland and Ireland. Grace says Jerry’s sleep and eating patterns are good and he’s back to playing his guitar or ukulele every day.
“I love it. It keeps your mind going. I can’t imagine a life without music,” said Jerry, who attributes his newfound health to Dr. Rizik. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for him.”
Dr. Rizik said that because of Jerry’s previous open-heart surgery, he wanted to avoid having to re-open his chest cavity.
“Jerry was getting worse. He was going into heart failure,” said Dr. Rizik, adding that Jerry’s leaky mitral valve was weakening his heart muscle and threatening his kidney function.
“Implanting the valve (manufactured by Abbott Cardiovascular) became our last option, and the one that gave us the most optimism that we could actually treat him — and improve him.”
While relatively simple in concept, implanting the new valve was a delicate, complex, hours-long procedure that required exacting precision. And it went off without a hitch.
“I got to tell you, when it was over, there were a lot of high-fives in the room,” Dr. Rizik said.
