Patient Success Stories

A few years after retiring, Shareen began having frequent occurrences of feeling tired and not being able to catch her breath.

As an Air Force pilot and now commercial aviation pilot, Eric Kirchner needs to be healthy, alert and ready to fly people around the globe.

The drama started on a Thursday morning for Matt and Krissy Richard. When Matt walked downstairs, Krissy quickly realized something was very wrong.

“I was having trouble breathing and I felt tired and weak,” Marianne says. “I had to push myself to do things, even simple, everyday things.”

One day severe pain in her calf sent Kendall to an ER. That’s when she heard three words she never expected: “It’s your heart.”

At age 79, Norma Benson was living an active life. But sudden, severe dizzy spells attacked out of nowhere and stopped her in her tracks.

Marlene thought her heart problems were insurmountable. “I had terrible tiredness. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even eat.”

A round of golf, a game of cards and the chance to enjoy life were top of mind for Bill when doctors told him he needed a pacemaker.

A healthy former athlete, Jackie was a hard-driving type-A business executive when everything in his world came to an abrupt halt.

At 74 years old, Linda Schwartz believes staying healthy should be a top priority. She also understands that to achieve that, she must maintain a good relationship with her doctors and have regular health screenings.

“There was no warning, no nothing,” Karen Carr recalls of the December evening her husband’s heart stopped beating. Jeff Carr, a tall, lean construction worker at age 52, felt uncomfortable on the couch and decided to go upstairs to lie down. 

At 43 years old, Dennis Dalton doesn’t let much slow him down - not even a heart attack.

When he was having the classic heart attack symptoms - he ignored them. At only 39, Phil felt it was too early to start worrying about a heart attack, even though he has a history of heart disease in his family.

The pressure between her shoulder blades would not let up.

And when Karen, who is always cold, started sweating, her son called 911.

On the night before her 40th birthday bash, Glenna learned that she was lucky to be alive; she had a heart defect and it needed to be repaired right away.

As he mowed his lawn in Independence, Kentucky, James felt chest pain. At first, he thought it was indigestion from hot dogs he ate for lunch, but the pain grew unbearable. He started to sweat, and a dip in the pool and a cold shower didn’t cool him down.

Ray collapsed from a heart attack on the way to his car after finishing a 12-hour shift as a forklift driver.

Terry Arlinghaus’ doctor told him he was a walking time bomb. And he didn't even know it.

When Kathy Shepherd learned her heart was in trouble, her first reaction was disbelief.

Susan Cox did the unthinkable—she drove herself to the hospital, even though she thought she could be having a heart attack.

One night, as Mary Hoffmeister was getting ready for bed, she took off her socks and saw something that caught her completely off guard. 

Ralph was getting ready to head upstairs to bed after an active day when he called upstairs to his wife to say he was really not feeling well, and that he was calling 911. Then he collapsed.

Jeff matter-of-factly shared his health history – cardiac issues are a family problem – until he described the doctors and the nurses who cared for him. Then, he ramped it up.

“Incredible,” Jeff said emphatically.

On September 25, Melissa had an angiogram and found out that her bypass from 20 years ago was failing.

She cried.

Joe lived with a heart murmur for 40 years because he was born with a heart defect.

With a long history of driving a dump truck and farming on the side, Mike Adams knows the meaning of hard work. That’s why he became worried at age 46 when he was too weak to change a tire on his truck – something his 12-year-old son did with no problem.

Taking that first step to quit smoking is the hardest part for many people. For St. Elizabeth Healthcare Nurse Jessica Brungs, it was a step she knew that she needed to take – and the Freshstart Smoking Cessation program was just the thing to help her take it.

Like many smokers, Teresa got hooked early in life. She smoked her first cigarette at age 12, back when it was the “cool” thing to do. Today, she is smoke free, and she will tell you it’s not easy. “You have to work your way through the bad stuff,” says Teresa. “Keep your eye on the prize. It gets better.”

Weight down. Cholesterol levels down. Cardiac ages improved by more than a decade.

Those are the health benefits Hugh and Bev Dayton credit to St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s “Take Time for Your Heart Class.”

A diabetic, Jan cut her triglycerides by half and her husband lost 13 pounds when she put into practice everything she learned at St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s 10-week course, “Take Time for Your Heart.”

It was a hot, Saturday afternoon in August as Dave, a volunteer firefighter, drove swiftly to a Pendleton County farm where hundreds of hay bales had caught fire. As he began filling a water truck to take into the fields, he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades.

The pressure between her shoulder blades would not let up.

And when Karen, who is always cold, started sweating, her son called 911.

Jackie, a two-time cancer survivor, keeps her weight in check and works out regularly. But at age 78, she figured there was still more she could do. St. Elizabeth's “Take Time for Your Heart” class was just the ticket.

Ray collapsed from a heart attack on the way to his car after finishing a 12-hour shift as a forklift driver.

As Susan Stahl woke up from hernia repair surgery last February – just before the coronavirus escalated – she had a strange feeling. And it wasn’t just her anesthesia wearing off.

“I felt like I had a big cement block on my chest,” remembers Susan. “It really hurt.”

Ruby Denny will never forget what happened to her one night in early March, just before the COVID-19 pandemic escalated. She was lying in bed, ready to fall asleep, and suddenly, she had a horrible feeling in her chest.

One day, 87-year-old Raymond Scheller realized that he could not walk to his own mailbox in Villa Hills without panting and running out of breath. After his TAVR procedure he was out of the hospital in two days and is back to enjoying life.

Vicki was having trouble breathing. She thought it was asthma, but her primary care physician wasn't so sure.

When he woke up in the middle of the night with a racing heart, Bob thought he was having an asthma attack.