{"id":40380,"date":"2025-03-20T11:44:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T16:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=40380"},"modified":"2025-03-20T11:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T16:44:41","slug":"marathon-runner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2025\/03\/20\/marathon-runner\/","title":{"rendered":"123 Days After Heart Valve Surgery, Justin Runs a Marathon!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve said it before and I look forward to saying it again… The patient success stories from the courageous members in our community are downright extraordinary.<\/p>\n

This time, I am happy to share the story of Justin Chamblee, a heart valve patient from Georgia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Marathon
\n 
\n<\/p>\n

Justin’s Extraordinary Story…<\/h2>\n

In his own words, here is what happened…<\/p>\n

I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve in my mid-20s, with the recommendation to monitor it every several of years. I would routinely have echos and CT scans every two-to-three years with no new news…just continue monitoring. In 2021, I had it looked at and the measurements of my ascending aorta were increasing, but not to the point of surgical intervention. The cardiologist told me that I will likely have to deal with this at some point, but most likely 10-20 years in the future.<\/p>\n

Last year (2024), I started having some symptoms that I thought could be stress, but could also be tied to my heart condition. Random shortness of breath, tiredness, dizziness, etc. I went to see a new cardiologist (my prior one retired) who wanted the normal work-up, including an echo. I knew that my journey was taking a turn when during the echo (which was supposed to be a stress echo), my measurements and level of aortic regurgitation was such that they would not put me on the treadmill!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Patient<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This led to being referred to a cardiothoracic surgeon I had seen previously, Dr. J. Alan Wolfe at Northside Hospital Heart Institute in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Wolfe wanted me to get a CT scan and then a diagnostic cath. I had never had a diagnostic cath before. The CT scan did not provide any new insights, but the diagnostic cath changed the trajectory of my life.<\/p>\n

I am an avid runner and made my way into the NYC Marathon for 2024. I completed my last 20 mile training run for the race on October 6 and then had my diagnostic cath on October 8. My mmHg was off the charts, measuring >62 mmHg (>40 mmHg is considered Severe). The cardiologist “shut me down”. No more running, etc. until I get this fixed. I generally felt “ok” and therefore was none too pleased, but followed the doctor’s advice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Heart<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On October 30, I went in for surgery to replace my aortic valve (I went mechanical) and a large chunk of my ascending aorta. I cannot say enough about Dr. Wolfe and the team at Northside…great experience and results. Unfortunately, I watched the NYC Marathon from my hospital bed! After a four night hospital stay, I was home and on my way to recovery.<\/p>\n

I leaned into the recommendation to walk a lot, walking several miles a day. I was cleared to start lite running at around the five week mark and then fully cleared at the six week mark. At that point, I was back at it. It was painful getting back into the groove (beta blockers are not a runner’s friend), but I was determined. After several weeks of feeling pretty strong, I started to have the crazy idea to run the Atlanta Marathon (March 2, 2025). This became my goal and I started increasing my mileage every week. The closer the date, the more I thought “I can do this”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Patient<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On March 2, 123 days post surgery, I completed the Atlanta Marathon in 3 hours 51 minutes!<\/p>\n

It was not my fastest time, but I was not running for time…I was running to show that I could still do this.<\/p>\n

It was an emotional experience…tears were shed during those last couple of miles!<\/p>\n

I have really enjoyed your newsletter, Adam. I’m hopeful my story helps other patients in our community.<\/p>\n

Keep on tickin,
\nJustin Chamblee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40380"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40411,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40380\/revisions\/40411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}