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Patient Success Week: Tammy Pilcher & Cris Dykeman, Our Community Rockstars!

By Adam Pick on July 16, 2015

I'll admit it. I love our online patient Community. I love seeing patients inspire each other. I love seeing patients educate each other. And, I loooooooooove when patients use the community in ways that I never imagined.

For example, some patients have Spring Break reunions in Florida.

Heart valve patients connect in Florida on spring break

Other patients connect in the hospital after meeting in our community.

Heart valve patients at Mount Sinai Hospital

Heck! Sometimes, I simply can't resist the opportunity to meet patients from our community.

Heart valve patients at Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles

So... As "2015 Patient Success Week" continues, I wanted to shine a big spotlight on two patients who inspire us with their words and their pictures.

Those two patients are Tammy Pilcher and Cris Dykeman.

First Community Rockstar... Cris Dykeman

One patient who has used our community in a special way is Cris Dykeman from Savannah, Georgia. Cris had an aortic valve replacement and aneurysm surgery on October 30, 2014. While Cris, like many patients, had some ups-and-downs in the recovery process, her upbeat attitude has always come across in her words and in her... pictures.

Yes, Cris has a great smile. But, Cris did something interesting with her pictures posted at the community. Cris started sharing photos and photo collages to document her recovery in a unique week-by-week, month-by-month way.

Cris Dykeman, heart valve patient, showing incision

I'll never forget when I saw the picture of Cris getting ready to leave the hospital. It was the photo above (and a few other pictures from our community) that got me thinking about forming the 'Smiling Scar Selfie Team' which has become such a big hit at our Facebook page.

Fyi... This was just the beginning for Cris. Every week and then every month, Cris would post a picture that made me think, "That's great!"

For example, here's a photo update from Cris at week 2:

Cris, heart valve patient, two weeks after surgery

Then came the photo collages. Yes, photo collages. Here's an example of Cris celebrating 6 weeks post-op at Disney.

Cris Dykeman, with 6 weeks post-operation picture collage

In April, Cris posted another photo collage celebrating 6 months after surgery.

Cris Dykeman, heart valve patient, celebrating six months after surgery

I want to thank Cris for taking the time to share her experiences, her photos, her photo collages, her positive outlook and her recovery with our community!!! To see more pictures and photo collages from Cris' journal, click here.

Next Community Rockstar... Tammy Pilcher

It was October, 2014, when I first connected with Tammy Pilcher, a patient from Freeport, Florida. Diagnosed at age 13 with a heart murmur, Tammy needed aortic valve replacement due to aortic stenosis. On October 31, 2014, Tammy had a successful procedure thanks to Dr. Kevin Accola at AdventHealth in Orlando, Florida.

Tammy recovered very well. By her 7th week, Tammy posted, "I'm feeling really good still. I haven't had any pain in a long time, only a little soreness in my chest at times. It's hard to believe it's only been 7 weeks since my heart was operated on and I'm able to do so much." At 3 months, Tammy posted that she was essentially "back to normal".

What makes Tammy's story so incredible is actually what happened after her surgery -- in our community. Little by little, I noticed that Tammy Pilcher was an super, double whammy, extraordinary supporter of just about every patient in our community.

Every time I jumped into our Patient News Feed, there was Tammy.

In the morning, there was Tammy.

In the afternoon, there was Tammy.

Late at night, there was Tammy.

Heart valve patients holding big red pillows after surgery at AdventHealth in Orlando, Florida

Even now.

I just went to the news feed.

Yep! You guessed it. There was Tammy posting an encouraging note to Susan Wozniak about her 4 week post-op recovery update. Tammy posted, "Congratulations Susan, on a great recovery! God Bless!"

Simply amazing Tammy!

On behalf of our community, I wanted to thank you for all of your incredible support! To visit Tammy's journal, click here.

Keep on tickin' Cris & Tammy!!!
Adam

P.S. Want more updates from the 2015 Patient Success Week? Sign up to my free newsletter!

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Written by Adam Pick
Patient & Website Founder

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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