At 6-feet, 140 pounds, Jenn Sarter — a former NCAA Division I volleyball player — still cuts an athletic profile.
But doctors once told this 42-year-old Scottsdale woman to accept she could no longer function normally, after her blood pressure suddenly skyrocketed in June 2022. None of the 18 doctors she saw could find a definitive cause or treatment.
That is, until she found her way to HonorHealth Research Institute and a clinical trial supervised by Dr. Taral Patel.
A self-described Type A personality — who graduated summa cum laude as a triple major — Jenn is the Global Marketing Director for Cotton Council International, a non-profit trade association that promotes exports of U.S. cotton fiber and products to more than 50 countries.
For two decades, she has written stories, planned events and directed global marketing targeting spinning mills, fabric and garment manufacturers, brands and retailers.
“I love my job, especially traveling the globe and talking to so many different people,” Jenn said. “One day I’ll be in a Mississippi cotton field talking to a farmer, and the next day be at a Paris fashion show talking to a designer.”
Health problems begin
After a business trip to Dubai in June 2022, then going to Disneyland with her family, Jenn started experiencing agonizing symptoms: “I was so fatigued it was hard to stand up. I couldn’t even raise my hands over my head to wash my hair in the shower.”
This was a huge shock to Jenn, who did Pilates daily. She abruptly became exercise-intolerant, woozy and fainted at the playground with her two young boys. Her tongue, hands and arms became numb and tingly with no apparent cause: “Moving my arms up, it felt like I was lifting a million pounds.”
Suddenly, her already high blood pressure was through the roof daily. The question was why; what was the cause?
Doctors diagnosed her with everything from hypothyroidism to Hyperadrenergic Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a condition that causes a rapid increase in heart rate when you transition from lying down to standing up, leading to dizziness, brain fog, chest pain and shortness of breath.
She underwent countless tests: blood work, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, biopsies, and genetic tests.
“No one could tell me why this was happening,” said Jenn, who just wanted to get “back to normal.”
She had six surgeries just from November 2022 to October 2023, including a right total knee replacement and an emergency appendectomy. She developed shingles on her face and incessant mouth sores. “I spent so much time in the hospital that I still know the HonorHealth patient meal menu by heart,” Jenn recalled.
Finally, getting somewhere
An endocrinologist suggested her adrenal glands (located atop the kidneys) were causing her resistant high blood pressure. But testing, even Adrenal Vein Sampling in October 2023, ruled it out. Her HonorHealth cardiologist, Dr. Christina Reuss, immediately put her in contact with the Research Institute, where in December 2023 she met Dr. Patel about undergoing renal denervation.
“I instantly felt at ease with Dr. Patel and trusted him completely,” said Jenn.
In January 2024, Dr. Patel performed a renal denervation, a minimally invasive procedure used to treat hypertension by using a catheter to send ultrasound or radiofrequency energy to the renal arteries.
Jenn said that after her renal denervation, she finally felt cautiously optimistic that her illnesses could improve.
“I adore Dr. Patel as he is so comforting, caring, honest and intelligent — one of the best doctors I’ve ever had. Now, seven months later, my blood pressure has miraculously normalized. I’m forever grateful to Dr. Patel and Dr. Reuss for bringing back ‘the old Jenn.’ ”
