I think you and I would agree that 2020 has been brutal. First, a pandemic. Then, economic fall-out. Riots. Fires. A chaotic presidential election here in America. It doesn't seem to stop.

During these difficult times, I look for just about anything to conjure good feelings for my wife (who lost her job), my son (who spends 7 hours a days on Zoom), our family, friends, and the patients in our community (who are fighting a war against heart valve disease).

So... When I saw the picture below...

[October 19, 2020 Update: Thanks so much to the HeartValveSurgery.com patient community for responding to this survey. We have received many more survey responses than expected and, as a result, are not accepting any more survey responses. To participate in future patient surveys, sign up to our newsletter at this link.]

[November 5, 2020 Update: Great news! The survey results were just posted in a special report. Click here to download the free report.]

Hi Patients!

Can I ask you a quick favor?

I've received lots of great questions about clinical trials for heart valve disease. To help patients, I want to learn how I can better educate patients about clinical trials. That said, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! Click here to take the survey!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

How far will the wonderful patients in our community go to inspire one another?

Well... I'd say that Jerome Hill, a bicuspid aortic valve patient, can provide a visual answer to that question. Here's Jerome, just a few hours after aortic valve replacement surgery, flashing you a "Thumbs-Up!" from the intensive care unit.

Jerome Hill, Heart Valve Surgery Patient

When I see a patient picture like this come across my community newsfeed, I stop what I'm doing.

No joke.

Thanks to Lee's wonderful photo - taken just before she was discharged from the hospital - the corner of my lips turned up and a fantastic smile stretched across my face. Today instantly fills with happiness.

As you may have seen here, I had HeartValveSurgery.com face masks made for my family to help protect us during the COVID-19 pandemic. When ordering the masks, there was a significant price decrease if you purchased more masks. So, I bought 10 extra masks for the wonderful people in our community. Last Friday, I gave away the masks to 10 patients.

In response to the HVS mask giveaway, I received a wonderful email from Robin Hayes, a heart valves surgery patient, earlier today.

Robin Hayes - Heart Valve Surgery Patient

UPDATE: UNFORTUNATELY, ALL OF THE FREE MASKS ARE NOW GONE!!!! I AM SO SORRY IF YOU DID NOT GET ONE!!!!

WOW!!! THOSE WENT FAST!!!! WE MAY MAKE MORE!!! STAY TUNED!!!

Hey Everybody,

Not sure if you are interested...

But, I recently saw a website that makes custom masks with logos on it. I thought it was neat idea. And, I thought it would be fun to make a few masks for Robyn, my wife, and Ethan, my son. During the ordering process, there was a pretty good price decrease if I bought more masks. So, I bought a few extra masks to see if anybody in our community wants one for free!

In case you missed it... I was recently interviewed by Linda Burhans from the "Connecting Caregivers" radio show.

As you may know, Connecting Caregivers is wonderful effort that Linda started to help caregivers supporting friends and family members with health issues. During our discussion, we discussed several important topics related to heart valve disease including the Active Living Initiative, our survey results from 3,000 patients, the realities of valvular disorders and new treatment options.

Video available online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_gohLy_FzE

On behalf of the HeartValveSurgery.com community, I would like to extend an extraordinary thanks to Medtronic and Abbott for their support of patients all over the world during COVID-19.

So you know… Medtronic and Abbott, two leading heart valve manufacturers, just did something special. In this difficult and trying time, Medtronic and Abbott joined forces to co-sponsor our "Advances in COVID-19 & Heart Valve Therapy" webinar. Over 630 patients registered for this educational event.

[Update: Great news! The "Advances in COVID-19 & Heart Valve Therapy" webinar held on August 27, 2020 was an extraordinary success with 287 patients connected in real-time. You can now download a free eBook or watch the video recording of the webinar at this link.]

I'm excited to share that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue next Thursday, August 27, with a special "Advances in COVID-19 & Heart Valve Therapy" webinar. Featured speakers include Dr. Joanna Chikwe, Chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute of Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Jaime Burkle, Clinical Manager of the Piedmont Heart Perimeter Office, and John Roland, a heart valve patient treated during COVID-19.

It never gets old. The joy. The happiness. That special feeling when I open my email and see a patient success story from the HeartValveSurgery.com community.

This time... Tapan Mehta, from Northern California, brought a smile to my face. As he approaches his fifth anniversary after heart valve surgery, here is what Tapan wrote to me:

Sometimes... It's hard to imagine that anything good can come from COVID-19. The novel coronavirus has cast an undeniable darkness upon our planet with 20+ million infections and 737 thousand deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

In difficult and trying times, I often reflect upon one of my favorite quotes from Mahatma Gandhi. The quote is, "In the midst of death, life persists. In the midst of untruth, truth persists. In the midst of darkness, light persists."

Unexpected! Many, many, many thanks to Bill Martinez for interviewing me about the findings from our new survey of 3,400 patients and caregivers.

We also talked about the new "Active Living" patient awareness campaign, aortic stenosis (AS), minimally-invasive therapies (like TAVR), and the misconceptions about AS and heart valve surgery. In case you missed it, here is a playback of my interview on the "Bill Martinez Live" show which is nationally-syndicated across 280 cities in the United States.

Video available online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob0IqmFvs5I

Unexpected!

I just learned that I will be on a few talk radio shows today and tomorrow discussing our new survey results that had over 3,400 patient and caregiver responses and the "Active Living" Patient Awareness Campaign that we launched today. So great to see that people are interested to learn more about heart valve disease and treatment!

On behalf of our patient community, I am excited to announce that Medtronic, one of the world's largest medical device companies and a leading heart valve manufacturer, is officially joining the HeartValveSurgery.com community to help educate and empower patients!

There is nothing better than an extraordinary patient success story. For example, this story of Kathy Chelton, Carter Chelton (her son), and Dr. Marc Gillinov (their surgeon) made me smile from ear-to-ear. Here is what Kathy, from Liberty, Missouri, wrote to me:

My 18-year old son, Carter, was released from Cleveland Clinic today! Dr. Marc Gillinov performed his mitral valve repair surgery. It went very well!

Dr. Gillinov also performed mitral and tricuspid valve repair surgery for me in 2017. Not the mother/son bond I wanted, but here we are! Dr. Gillinov is amazing, as is the well-oiled machine here in Cleveland.

Kathy, Carter & Dr. Marc Gillinov

Amazing!!!

Our webinar, "Advances in Bicuspid Aortic Valve Therapy", set new records for patient attendance and participation. We had 239 patients online together for this educational event with Dr. Chris Malaisrie and Dr. Jyothy Puthumana, the co-directors of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program at Northwestern Medicine.

[Update: The Bicuspid Aortic Valve Webinar held on June 10, 2020 was an extraordinary success with 239 patients connected in real-time. You can now download a free eBook or watch the video recording of the webinar at this link.]

Great news!

I'm excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continues next Wednesday, June 10, with a special "Advances in Bicuspid Aortic Valve Treatment" webinar. Featured speakers include Dr. Chris Malaisrie, cardiac surgeon and co-director of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program at Northwestern Medicine, and Dr. Jyothy Puthumana, cardiologist and co-director of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program at Northwestern Medicine.

When courageous patients transform medical lemons into lemonade, I want you to know about it.

Elisabeth Boylan is a perfect example. An athlete, wife and mother from Canada, Elisabeth was born with a bicuspid aortic valve. Like many patients, Elisabeth knew she may need surgery in the future and was in "watchful waiting" for many years. That, however, did not stop Elisabeth's passion for running.

As Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, once said, "Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality."

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is now our unexpected reality. At times, that is hard to accept. At times, it's challenging not to think back to the way it was. At times, I wonder if Lao Tzu lived through a pandemic. Regardless, we must move forward. We must evolve.

Patient Being Examined During COVID-19 (Northwestern Medicine)

Thanks to the wonderful support of patients, their family members and friends, I am happy to report that HeartValveSurgery.com achieved the #2 ranking in FeedSpot's 2020 Top Heart Blogs & Websites.

This is such an extraordinary honor considering all the great cardiac websites out there!