David's Profile

I was born in 1968 with aortic stenosis and a ventricular septal defect. I had open heart surgery in 1975 at 7 years old to repair the VSD and valve. The surgical medical team at Mayo Clinic was able to repair the VSD but were unable to repair the valve due to the technology that was unavailable at that time. It was anticipated that I would have another surgery 25 years later (I would have been 32 yo), however I surpassed that time by another 20 years. During the last 45 years to just a few weeks ago, I developed a saccular aortic root aneurysm which at the time of surgery 2/12/2021, the aneurysm had grown to 6.2 cm. It measured 5.2 cm as of 12/1/2020. It grew exponentially in the last 3 months and it was Imperative that I had to have surgery within 1-3 months. If I had waited any longer, I may not have lived past March or April of this year. Dr Svensson and his team replaced my aorta valve and the ascending aorta with a prosthetic mechanical valve. I’ve never felt this good all my life in such a short period of time.