NORWICH – Heart disease and stroke are the number one and number three killers in America today, claiming more than 910,000 lives a year. With so many people falling victim, telling the stories of those who have beaten both is one way the American Heart Association hopes to inspire more awareness and donations toward life-saving research.
Norwich resident Joseph Phelps is one of many people who have struggled with a heart condition. After surviving four open heart surgeries, Joe was chosen as a Red Cap Ambassador for the 2008 America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk.
According to the organization, Red Cap Ambassadors provide inspirational stories that have encouraged the growth in participation and dollars raised annually during the event.
This year, Joe’s story was featured in the event guide for the Heart Walk. The story of Joe’s heart problems began when he was only a few days old. The fourth of six children, Joe had a normal birth, but began struggling just three days into his life. When the small child began turning blue, the doctors quickly sent the family to Saint Joseph’s hospital in Syracuse.
Doctors discovered Joe had a narrowing of the pulmonic valve, a condition known as Pulmonic Stenosis. At five-days-old, Joe underwent his first open heart surgery. The doctors worked to repair the pulmonic valve and correct the flow of Joe’s blood. The surgery went well, and Joe appeared to be a normal, healthy child, but at four and a half, problems began to develop again.
Joe’s family took him to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Doctors again worked to repair the pulmonic valve, and while the surgery seemed to go well, Joe slipped into a coma. It took 18 days for the child to recover, but he survived and made a full recovery. Joe had a normal childhood and stayed fairly active, although, there were some things he was unable to do. “I couldn’t play competitive sports,” Joe said, “and I was the only one of six that wanted to.”
Joe had no more problems until the age of 30, when he began to experience arterial flutter, a condition involving a sporadic or consistently abnormal heart rhythm. While he tried to manage the condition through weekly cardioversion treatments – a process which involves shocking the heart to cause a normal rhythm – the treatments were unsuccessful and doctors at Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania decided a third open heart surgery would be necessary.
During the third surgery, Joe’s pulmonic valve was replaced with a human valve. A woman whose husband had died in a car accident donated his organs for transplant, and Joe was able to use the donated valve. While the surgery fixed the problem temporarily, 14 years later, Joe was again experiencing congenital heart problems due to his pulmonic valve. “It was deteriorating rapidly and symptoms began interfering with daily activities,” Joe said. In 2006, Joe underwent his fourth open heart surgery, receiving a bovine valve. Two years have passed since the surgery and Joe says he has been fine ever since.
The surgeries have taken a toll on Joe, who has had to give up racquetball due to his heart condition, but at 46, he is still active and enjoying life. “I’m still volunteering for two fire companies. I have a full schedule and I’m able to do what I want to do,” he said.
Through his adult life, Joe has had the support of his wife Deb and his two daughters Marissa and Briana, who Joe said, have inspired him along the way to continue fighting. “They help me enjoy all that I have and to be thankful for everyday that I am alive to tell this story.”
For several years, Joe has been participating in the American Heart Association’s America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk in Utica. The fourth largest of its kind, the walk brings in a total of 8,000 to 10,000 annually, and proceeds from the walk are used to research treatments for heart disease and stroke.
As part of the New York Central Mutual team, Joe says approximately 180 to 190 people from the Norwich area attended the walk last year. This year he is hoping to see 200. “It [the walk] gives people hope,” Joe said. The Norwich resident said the message he wants people to take from his story is one of hope. “I want people to know, if you have to have a procedure done, it’s not as serious as it was years ago.” Joe explained the risks involved with the procedures had decreased over the years. “Without the research, we wouldn’t have these benefits, and it benefits people locally and through out the country.”
Anyone interested in participating in this year’s Heart Walk on Saturday, March 8 at Utica College can visit the web site http://heartwalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=238784 for more information or e-mail Joe at JPhelps231@yahoo.com.