90.3 WCPN ideastream®: Heart Stories

The average human heart weighs less than a pound, and yet it is the most important muscle in your body.  WVIZ/PBS ideastream’s Heart Stories: Confronting the #1 Killer, premiering Tuesday, May 5 at 9pm, shares the stories of three northeast Ohioans and their family members who have confronted heart disease—the nation’s number one cause of natural death.

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Viewers will follow a man who lives through a heart attack, watch doctors perform heart by-pass surgery, and meet a woman who suffers from life-threatening heart problems.  Heart Stories: Confronting the #1 Killer has a story for everyone who has been touched by this disease, and includes the latest information on cutting-edge treatment and research.

One out of five people with coronary artery disease has a heart attack without any previous symptoms. So what exactly happens when someone has a heart attack?  What happens in the distressed heart to cause the well-known symptoms like chest pain and tingling in the left arm? What should you do?  Bruce Neubauer is all too familiar with these symptoms.  The Lorain County school teacher suffered heart problems ten years ago but ignored his doctor’s advice to eat right and exercise.  Last February, he had a heart attack.  Heart Stories will follow his story from the distressing 911 call to his discharge from the hospital.  Both routine and brand-new procedures that stabilize and treat heart attack patients will be revealed.

More than a half-million people in the U.S. have coronary by-pass surgery every year.  What doctors call “Cabbage,” for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, is a surprisingly common treatment for blocked arteries leading to and from the heart. During Heart Stories, WVIZ/PBS viewers will see an actual by-pass surgery when they meet Jim Myers and his family as Jim prepares for and undergoes a quadruple by-pass.  See exactly what happens before, during, and after the surgery through the eyes of nurses, surgeons, and most importantly, the patient himself.

Heart disease is an equal opportunity killer—while it is usually associated with men, heart disease is also the main cause of death among women. One reason for the higher mortality rate is that women are often misdiagnosed. Their symptoms are different from men’s.  This is what happened to Carmela McMullen.  As a college basketball referee, this Cuyahoga County woman was active, athletic and the picture of health.  But when it comes to heart disease, looks can be deceiving.  Her story from diagnosis to treatment is a learning opportunity for all women – especially for those who think heart disease is a “man thing.”

The final portion of the show explores the new frontiers of medicine, where significant breakthroughs lead to new and improved treatment. Viewers will learn about cutting-edge, heart-related research and procedures.  One northeast Ohio doctor has created a new tool called “calcium scoring” to detect the early stages of hardening of the arteries caused by calcium buildup in the blood vessel walls.  Combined with traditional risk factors, like cholesterol and familial history, calcium scores are proving to be an important tool in assessing a patient’s risk of future heart disease. Another promising area is stem-cell research.  The program also covers state-of-the-art robotic surgical equipment, which makes surgery less complicated, less time-consuming and less expensive.

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Funding

Funding for Heart Stories: Confronting the #1 Killer comes from the Dr. Donald J. Goodman and Ruth Weber Goodman Philanthropic Fund of The Cleveland Foundation, and by The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, The Woodruff Foundation, The McGregor Foundation and The Community Foundation of Lorain County.