Home > Heart Surgery Blog > Patient Stories > Valve Day Patient Spotlight: From Tragedy to TAVR Triumph, This Is Donna's Story

Valve Day Patient Spotlight: From Tragedy to TAVR Triumph, This Is Donna's Story

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: February 22, 2021

Donna Hartley has struggled with many health challenges during her life - malnourishment, heart disease, a plane crash, cancer and then... more heart disease.

In this video, Donna shares her extraordinary journey to a healthy heart that included surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and a Medtronic transcatheter aortic valve re-replacement (TAVR) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donna shares several important facts and considerations about heart valve surgery in this video including being your own best patient advocate, researching your surgeon/cardiologist/medical team, having a positive attitude, and setting goals for an enhanced recovery.

Donna received her TAVR Valve-in-Valve at El Camino Health under the direct care of Dr. Vincent Gaudiani (surgeon) and Dr. Chad Rammohan (interventional cardiologist).

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.

Follow 450K