Patient Spotlight Archives - Heart Valve Voice US https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/category/patient-spotlight/ Giving a voice to people with heart valve disease Wed, 28 Jan 2026 20:08:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/cropped-Favicon-32x32.png Patient Spotlight Archives - Heart Valve Voice US https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/category/patient-spotlight/ 32 32 Karie Watson https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/karie-watson/ Thu, 06 Nov 2025 15:32:57 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=12048 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? My husband had a sudden experience on January 20, 2005, at the age of 29. I was at work and five months pregnant with our first child. Fortunately, due to inclement weather, my husband was working from home that day and was able to contact his […]

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]]> Tori Lungren https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/tori-lungren/ Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:02:14 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=12040 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? My symptoms began subtly – persistent backaches that lasted over a year and a half. Despite visiting a cardiologist and requesting an echocardiogram from my cardiologist, I was repeatedly denied. Eventually, I fought hard enough to get the testing I needed. The results were devastating: my […]

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]]> Kim Klatt https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/kim-klatt/ Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:16:10 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=12016 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect. Although my mother knew of my diagnosis before I was born in 1976 – no one could predict its full impact. At just three weeks old, I underwent my first bypass surgery so I could […]

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]]> Debra North https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/debra-north/ Fri, 23 May 2025 19:49:42 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11958 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? My story is quite convoluted! I was born with a congenital defect (CHD) of the mitral valve. In fact, when my mother was in labor with me, I survived both a heart attack and stroke. As a result, I spent nearly two weeks in the Neonatal […]

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]]> Christine Rekash https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/christine-rekash/ Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:59:22 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11938 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? I am a survivor of heart valve disease. My journey began at a routine physical when my primary care physician detected a heart murmur. Upon being referred to a specialist, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse. I was given the option of taking beta blockers […]

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]]> Meghan Holmes https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/meghan-holmes/ Wed, 09 Apr 2025 19:27:01 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11926 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? I was born with a unicuspid aortic valve defect. The murmur was heard at birth, and so I always knew I had a ‘heart problem’, that ‘someday I will have to have heart surgery’, and ‘that I shouldn’t exercise too much’. It sounds like I knew […]

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]]> Tina Sampath https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/tina-sampath/ Thu, 27 Feb 2025 22:46:10 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11913 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease?   I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse as a teenager; however I recall having symptoms for most of my life. I remember telling my mom when I was very young that at night I could hear “soldiers marching, but one of them isn’t doing it right.” […]

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]]> Teresa Wright-Johnson https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/teresa-wright-johnson/ Thu, 27 Feb 2025 22:42:29 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11910 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? I was born with a heart murmur, and my parents quickly began to search for a diagnosis. They soon discovered that I had an aortic valve defect, and I was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Throughout my journey with heart valve disease, I had three open […]

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]]> Katherine “Kathi” Sapp https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/katherine-kathi-sapp/ Mon, 03 Feb 2025 22:47:50 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11873 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease?  I had little knowledge about heart valve disease until May 2021, when my husband’s echocardiogram results came through his MyChart on a Saturday morning. As we read the report together, we learned about severe aortic stenosis for the first time. It was a pivotal and overwhelming […]

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]]> Boots Knighton https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/boots-knighton/ Tue, 03 Dec 2024 19:32:08 +0000 https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/?p=11848 Can you share your experience with heart valve disease? I was quite surprised by the diagnosis of a bicuspid aortic valve at 42 years old in July 2020 after suffering a heart attack due to another congenital defect. Thankfully, my BAV is holding steady at the moment and isn’t causing symptoms. However, having the knowledge […]

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