The Tribune

By CARA HUNT

WHEN Demetria Seymour had to be airlifted to the Cleveland Clinic with heart failure, she had no idea if she would live to see her children grow up.

But thanks to a very difficult and rare surgery performed by Dr Jose Navia, the 34-year-old mother-of-three from Andros is expected to make a full recovery and have a much better quality of life.

Dr Navia the surgeon who performed the surgery is the Director of Heart and Vascular Center Cleveland Clinic Florida; chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, Florida, Weston location.

Demetria had to have a surgery to replace and repair all four heart valves. She explained she had been born with a heart murmur, but says in the past several months she began to feel very ill.

“At the age of 32 I started to get a bit weak, breathing problems a lot of chest pain… I couldn’t function at work, so I knew something was not right.”

Her condition continued to deteriorate and eventually in June last year she was admitted to Doctors Hospital where she was diagnosed with heart failure.

“They told me my heart was failing and I was not getting any better. Dr Sands (Duane) told me he didn’t want to risk operating in Nassau and so he was referring me to the Cleveland Clinic.

“I was conscious and I can remember when they came in and disconnected all the tubes from Doctors to go,” she said.

She knew her condition was life threatening.

“I had already given up hope. I felt as if that was it. That’s just how I was feeling. Not able to do anything for myself, for my kids, not able to work… the pain… and the frustration…”

When she arrived at the Cleveland Clinic her condition was “very difficult”.

Dr Navia explained she was experiencing acute heart failure and sceptic shock. He said they immediately stablished her and prepared for surgery the next day.

Demetria had an aggressive form of infection which had damaged all four valves of her heart.

“It is the first time, I have seen a patient with four valves infected, usually it’s two to three, so it was a very difficult surgery,” Dr Navia said.

He and his team had several issues they had to address, they had to ensure of the infected tissue was removed, they had to repair the valves which could be fixed and then they had to replace the valves which could not. To do this, they used homografts (heart valves from a human donor.)

After the valves were addressed, he was then able to reconstruct the heart.

“They ( her family) understood that the only way to save her was to go through the surgery. This was a difficult complicated surgery.”

Dr Navia said that he was positive going into the surgery

“We have a really good team, a state-of-the-art ICU and OR, I was very confident.”

All Demetria remembers is being rushed into surgery and then waking up several days later.

“My experience with Dr Navia was excellent,” she said.

“He would come in and see me every day and say ‘Hi, you are the star of the ICU’. If I did not come to Cleveland Clinic, I would not be alive today. “

Dr Navia is delighted the surgery was a success.

“We were able to take the technology and repair this very destroyed heart in the right way.”

He says Demetria can expect a full recovery, although she will have to continue to do follow-ups such as annual echo cardiograms and cardio physiology and a full course of antibiotics. Dr Navia said it is hard to tell exactly where the infection may have come from.

But he noted this type of heart infection can have these severe impacts in people such as Demetria who have a pre-existing heart condition, people who have had heart issues in the past or even those with infections were left untreated. A good relationship with your doctor is vital so that issues can be addressed immediately, he added.

Demetria is just excited at her second chance in life.

“So, now I am looking forward to having a new life experience, things I wanted to do but was not able to do - a lot of stuff with my kids and even in school, I was not able to take parts in sports, but now I have a brand new heart so I am ready to go out there and experience life and feel what it feels like to have a new heart a new mindset.”