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Tennis Enthusiast, John Persinger, Celebrates Surgeon with "Team Gerdisch" T-Shirts!

By Adam Pick on August 6, 2019

Shortly after sharing this post about a cow valve replacement t-shirt, our Facebook page went bonkers with over 1,600 Facebook Likes.

Then, my inbox swelled with questions about where to buy the t-shirt. Thankfully, the actual t-shirt designer emailed me a link to his Amazon store. Next... Back on Facebook, I started seeing bunches of new t-shirt designs for patients commemorating their heart valve surgery. It's been so fun to see our community come together like this!

Team Gerdisch t-shirts made by patients playing tennis

John Persinger, Heart Valve Patient in his "Team Gerdisch" T-Shirt

Then...

John Persinger, a tennis enthusiast from Indiana, took the t-shirt craze to a whole new level.

To show his thanks and his appreciation for Dr. Marc Gerdisch, his heart surgeon, John and his family made custom "Team Gerdsich" t-shirts. As you can see above, John and his family proudly wear the t-shirts all over town including the tennis courts.

Dr. Marc Gerdisch (John's Surgeon)

When reflecting upon his surgery, John, who had aortic valve replacement and aorta root repair to fix an aortic aneurysm on June 21, 2019, shared the following:

"I stayed in the hospital five days taking only Tylenol for pain. When discharged, I was told I could move my arms and lift 10 pounds. They installed SternaLock brackets to hold my sternum together. I had no pain or loss of movement. After 3 weeks, I played tennis and served without problems. Still working on my strength. But, I'm able to run some. Dr. Gerdisch was super with his communications to my family and myself. His team and Franciscan Health were super. He gave us his personal number to call if needed."

In addition to pictures, John also sent over actual video footage of him playing tennis just 3 weeks after heart valve surgery. Amazing!!!

Many thanks to John for creating such wonderful t-shirts to show his support and appreciation for Dr. Gerdisch and his team. So you know, Dr. Gerdisch and the medical team at Franciscan Health have taken care of many patients from our patient community.

That said, thanks to Dr. Gerdisch, Nicole, Cindy, Kelli and John for their ongoing support of HeartValveSurgery.com patients!
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Keep on tickin' John!
Adam

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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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