- April 16, 2024
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Cecelia and Fred Cascio (Photo by Emily Blackwood)
The Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center hosted an anniversary party for TAVR and invited patients (Courtesy photo).
The cake the hospital made for the patients featuring the valve crown they all now have (Courtesy photo).
Cecelia Cascio was driving with her husband, Fred Cascio, when everything got fuzzy.
"I just went out," she said. "I couldn't see where I was going. I remember Fred saying 'Move over.' I was on the shoulder of the road and scratched up the side of the car. We're lucky we didn't hit anything."
Thankfully, Cecelia Cascio came to enough to pull over, and surprisingly enough the woman driving behind them was a nurse who called 911. The ambulance came to the Cascio home and took her to the hospital, where they determined she had a valve that didn't open properly.
Since she had an open heart surgery 12 years ago, more specifically a coronary artery bypass grafting, her doctors didn't want to go that route again. So she underwent a transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure, minimally invasive procedure replaces heart valves in patients.
“This is truly a lifesaving procedure for many in our community," said Scott Strech, cardiovascular administrator for the Florida Hospital East Florida Region in a press release. "Without TAVR, some of these patients would either live with this condition in poor health until they died, or they would have to travel out of the area for the procedure, which many are too sick to do.”
Cascio had the procedure done in Feburary and was number 25 out of 29 person to undergo TAVR — which celebrated its one year anniversary this month. She said she likes how little time it took her to recover.
"I was home in two days," she smiled. "With my open heart surgery it was a few weeks. It's really amazing."
