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Part II: Elisabeth Completes Half-Marathon with Daughter After Ross Procedure

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: June 25, 2025

The inspirational patient success stories keep coming in from all over the world!

This time, we have our first "Part 2" of a patient success story from Elisabeth Boylan, a Ross Procedure patient from Quebec. (As you may recall, we initially featured Elisabeth's efforts to raise heart disease awareness in 2020. (Click here to see our first post about Elisabeth.)

Ross Procedure Patient After Half Marathon

Elisabeth Boylan with Sara Borchert (Daughter)

Elisabeth Says...

Here is what Elisabeth wrote to me:

Hi Adam, I hope you are in great health and things are good for yourself and family. I wanted to give an update that you can share as a post. Last March, I registered myself and my daughter for the Quebec City Half Marathon.

I ran without headphones and this time looked to the encouragement of Quebec City runners and spectators along the route. Where would we be without cheerleaders?

Sara, my daughter, ran the race with me. It was Sara's first half-marathon. She finished in 2 hours and 6 minutes. I finished in 2 hours and 22 minutes. My husband was there for us at the 7 kilometer mark and the 13 kilometer mark to provide us bananas for fuel.

Timeline of Elisabeth's Recovery

The best takeaway, as a mother, Sara had an awesome time and is looking forward to running more events. It always feels good to finish something hard with others!

Feel free to share with the HeartValvesSurgery.com community.

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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