“I remember hearing the helicopter. Thump-thump-thump, like a heartbeat. But after that, I don’t remember.”
Jan Leakey credits her best friend, Pam Russell, with saving her life. Pam insisted that Jan go to an urgent care center in Clayton. It turned out Jan was having a heart attack. By the time she arrived via life flight at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville, Jan had been revived seven times.
“Everyone asked me if I saw a bright light,” said Jan. “But God didn’t want me just yet. He didn’t open that door for me.”
“She’s lucky to be alive given the amount of support she needed early on,” said Kyle Thompson, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, an integral part of Georgia Heart Institute. “She pretty much went through every heart support device we have available at this hospital. She is very fortunate, and she did great.”
Life Support
Back in November 2022, Jan didn’t feel like herself.
“I was having shortness of breath walking across a room and thought, ‘That’s not normal,’” she said. “I was concerned I had COVID or pneumonia.”
A trip to a different urgent care center turned into a stay at a hospital in Metro Atlanta as Jan was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
Jan was prescribed stabilizing medications that worked only for about five months before her fateful life flight to NGMC Gainesville.
Dr. Thompson and the surgical team at NGMC Gainesville stabilized Jan with the world’s smallest temporary heart pump, called an Impella 5.5. Then they put her on a life-support system called venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) to relieve stress on Jan’s heart.
Jan remained in the intensive care unit for weeks following her heart attack.
“There were a lot of machines going. I thought I’d hear beeping the rest of my life,” Jan said.
“I remember the people — the nurses the doctors were the best. I’ve never felt that kind of love.”
A Long-Term Solution
While the Impella and ECMO saved Jan’s life for the time being, Dr. Thompson was thinking long-term. Would Jan be a candidate for an LVAD?
An LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a pump placed in the lower left chamber of the heart. About the size of a quarter, it helps pump blood out of the heart and put it back into the bloodstream. Essentially, an LVAD is an artificial left side of the heart, powered by an external battery pack.
“This was foreign to me,” said Jan. “I had never heard about an LVAD. I had never seen anyone with an LVAD.
“Five nurses came into my room, and it was like a counseling session. They asked, ‘Do you have any questions about this?’ And they explained, ‘This is how it will be living with an LVAD.’They were straightforward about it.
“I said, ‘I can do this. This is my only option.’”
A Wonderful Experience
On May 1, 2023, Dr. Thompson and the team took Jan back for surgery to insert the LVAD.
“I remember I really felt peace about it,” Jan said. “When I think about it now, I should have been nervous, but I felt a real peace because of Dr. Thompson and the nurses. I felt like everybody was on my side.”
“We’re one of the few centers in the state of Georgia that offers left ventricular assist devices,”said Dr. Thompson. “We’re the only ones in this region. We could provide her an option many other places wouldn’t have.”
After all she had been through, Jan astonished everyone by striding through the hospital corridors arm in arm with her beloved nurses just 24 hours after the operation. It was a breathtaking testament to her strength and optimistic spirit.
“I had that cute little heart pillow with me everywhere I went,” she said. “I was never thinking,‘Oh, I’ve been here for weeks!’ It wasn’t dreadful. They knew what they were doing, and they knew how to handle people like me. It was a wonderful experience.”
Recovery lasted two more weeks, allowing Jan to regain her strength before heading home.
“I was excited about going home, but I didn’t want to leave because I knew it was going to be a big challenge with a lot of changes and a different routine.”
Jan’s daily walks became more frequent and invigorating. She started with short, leisurely strolls around the yard, gradually extending her routes through her neighborhood in Stone Mountain. She’s back working in her garden, as long as it’s not too hot. She is also back driving again. She has no restrictions on her activities. Ever the optimist, Jan learned to embrace the LVAD as her new fashion accessory.
“I got a pretty strap to make me feel better, like the ones for purses,” said Jan. “When I start talking to people, they say, ‘Oh, I thought that was just your pocketbook.’ I don’t think people notice it as much as I think they do.”
Click the button below to learn more about advanced heart failure treatment at Georgia Heart Institute or to find a cardiologist.