Winter Richards

Open Heart Surgery — at Age 27

Winter Richards’ heart was failing in May 2023, but she didn’t know it. In fact, at age 27, the thought had never crossed her mind.

“My chest was congested, and my nose was stuffy,” Winter remembers. “For weeks, I couldn’t lie down without coughing and spitting. I remember thinking it must be allergies, even though I’d never had allergies before.”

Winter went to an urgent care for help twice. Each time, the provider prescribed antibiotics. When those didn’t help, Winter went to her primary care provider, nurse practitioner Laura Jacobs, APRN. “I told Laura about my symptoms, and she said, ‘I don’t like how that sounds. I’m ordering some blood tests,’” Winter says. “When the results came back abnormal, she said I needed to see a cardiologist as soon as possible.”

Winter made an appointment with Kevin Fitzgerald, MD, an interventional cardiologist at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. Nothing could have prepared her for what he said five minutes into the visit. “He held my hand and said, ‘Your mitral valve is broken, and you need open-heart surgery.’ I started bawling.”

Suffocating From the Inside Out

The mitral valve is between your heart’s upper left chamber (left atrium) and lower left chamber (left ventricle). It is made of two thin, strong tissue flaps called leaflets. The leaflets open and close like an elevator door every time the heart beats. The valves allow blood to flow in the right direction — from the left atrium to the left ventricle.

Except that Winter’s leaflets weren’t opening and closing. They weren’t even touching. Blood was flowing in the wrong direction, and some was leaking into her lungs. In short, Winter had cardiomyopathy, a disorder that causes heart failure. It affects the heart muscle and makes it impossible for the heart to pump blood well. “Dr. Fitzgerald said I was suffocating from the inside out. If I hadn’t come in, I would probably have died in my sleep,” she says.

Dr. Fitzgerald treats thousands of patients a year, but very few are as young as Winter. “The vast majority of people with heart failure are over 65 years old, so her situation was quite rare,” said Dr. Fitzgerald. “We learned later through genetic testing that Winter has an abnormal BAG3 gene. The abnormal gene is rare and puts people at higher risk for progressive heart failure.”

Dr. Fitzgerald called the hospital as Winter rushed home to pack a bag. Within two hours, she was lying in a hospital bed in the St. Elizabeth Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). St. Elizabeth Healthcare cardiologist Sudha Jaganathan, MD, was the first physician to evaluate Winter at the hospital. “Winter was in cardiogenic shock, a rare, life-threatening emergency that occurs when the heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs,” says Dr. Jaganathan, who specializes in heart failure. “We had to urgently start intravenous medications to stabilize her before we could even consider surgery.”

Once Winter’s condition stabilized, doctors scheduled surgery for a week later, knowing they needed time to reduce the fluid in and around Winter’s heart and lungs. Otherwise, she could die during surgery.

An Anxious Week of Waiting

The stress of the sudden, shocking diagnosis was almost unbearable for Winter. Until this terrifying experience, she had always been healthy and active. She worked in a physically demanding job at a warehouse, loved playing with her dog, Atlas, and considered herself a “fast walker,” always on the move. Now, she was in a hospital bed surrounded by high-tech equipment and preparing for major surgery to repair her mitral valve. Her long-time boyfriend, Cody, visited for hours at a time. Friends mowed Winter and Cody’s yard and walked Atlas. Everyone worried.

On the morning of surgery, Winter was extremely anxious. “The nurses, who were about my age, were so sweet,” Winter says. “One nurse held my hand and hugged me. She was trying to get me to stop crying, but I just couldn’t. I was so scared that I might not survive.”

Thankfully, the surgery was a success. Mario Castillo-Sang, MD, a nationally recognized expert in mitral valve surgery, repaired the valve and cut down Winter’s heart muscle, which was enlarged due to the cardiomyopathy. Dr. Castillo-Sang closed her chest, and Winter’s long recovery began.

Recovery and Compassion Post-Surgery

As happy as she was to be alive, Winter was also in a great deal of pain after surgery. When nurses told her it was time to go for a walk the day after surgery, she laughed out loud. “Every time I took a breath, I had stabbing pain,” she says. “I was covered in straps and wires and tubes, including a tube in my neck. Yet somehow, those nurses got me up out of bed and walking. I knew it was for the best, but the pain was terrible. I just focused on not freaking out.”

During her difficult hospital stay, nurses treated her with kindness and compassion. They talked her through scary procedures, comforted her during panic attacks, and got extra pillows for Cody on nights he slept in Winter’s room. “One of the nurses knew how disgusting I felt after more than a week in the hospital with no real shower or bath,” Winter says. “She got a basin with warm water and shampoo and washed my hair. Then she put my hair in a braid and pinned it away from all my tubes and wires for safety. She was so gentle and sweet. I have never felt more like a person.”

A Dedicated, Expert Team Makes a Difference

Winter returned home on June 23 feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Within a week, she began cardiac rehabilitation at the Florence Wormald Heart & Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth. Rehab included exercise and classes about heart disease, heart-healthy diets, stress management and other vital topics.

“I went to every single class they offered,” Winter says. “At the beginning of all this, I was just a regular 27-year-old who had no clue what heart disease was or how to handle it. Having the resources and meeting such kind-hearted staff at the cardiac rehabilitation center was amazing and life-changing.”

Winter’s heart is stronger than it was before surgery. However, she will need lifelong care from specialists to experience the best quality of life possible. Dr. Jaganathan closely monitors Winter’s heart health at the Advanced Heart Failure Management Center. A mental health therapist meets with Winter to help her cope with the emotional toll of having a life-altering disease at such a young age. Winter attends Healing Hearts, a support group for women with heart-related diagnoses, which makes her feel less alone.

“Heart failure is a challenging, life-changing diagnosis, and as a physician, I am awed by Winter’s courage and determination to heal,” says Dr. Jaganathan. “Her experience drives home the message that heart disease can happen to anyone, even people who have a healthy lifestyle. It is essential to know your risk for heart disease and work with a care team to treat problems as early as possible.”

Resilience and Recovery: Winter’s Journey Toward a Brighter Future

As Winter’s strength returned through the summer and fall of 2023, she emerged from a fog of tiredness and anxiety. These days, she is working part-time and taking college courses to earn a computer technology degree, hoping to work in network administration someday. Her energy still comes and goes. She takes Atlas for walks on good days, although he is just as happy to snuggle with her on the porch.

Winter says she’s grown emotionally through this experience and is stronger than she thought. She’s also grateful for the people whose support made her recovery possible. “Cody and his family have been absolutely amazing — I couldn’t have done it without them,” she explains. “And I’m very grateful for everyone at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. By now, I feel like I know every person in heart and vascular services. And all of them are incredible. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”