Watch what happens when a family’s matriarch finds out she has to have heart valve replacement surgery. Thanks to supportive cardiac care, she is now back to health and enjoying her extended family with a healthy heart.
Marilyn O’Gorman has a full heart full of love: Just ask her six children, 15 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
However, in 2009, tests showed that same heart had medical issues. So her close family was by her side when she underwent heart valve replacement surgery. O’Gorman says her heart doctor, Athan Roumanas, MD, FACS, put her at ease about the surgery.
“You’re very nervous — you’re scared,” says O’Gorman. “You don’t know: Are you going to come out of it? Is it going to work?”
Heart Valve Replacement Surgery Comes with an Unexpected Question
O’Gorman was asked to choose whether she’d prefer a pig or a cow valve — ultimately inquiring of Dr. Roumanas which one he’d choose for his own mother.
“And he said, ‘Well, probably pig,'” she recalls. “And I said, ‘OK, I’ll oink for you.’ And that’s how I got that, and he did a wonderful job.”
O’Gorman continues her care at the Renown Institute for Heart and Vascular Health, so she can stay heart healthy and spend her free time with the many generations of family in her life.
From the Brink of Loss to a New Beginning: The Sloan Family’s ECMO Journey
It was the Fourth of July 2024, but for the Sloan family, there were no fireworks or festivities. Instead, Megan Sloan stood by her husband Darrin’s bedside in the intensive care unit at Renown Regional Medical Center, watching machines take over while monitoring his fragile condition. Just a week earlier, Darrin, a devoted father, husband and retired sergeant with the Carson City Sherif’s Office, had been full of energy. Now, he was fighting for his life.
Renown Health is proud to unveil a special new space just for breast health—created with your comfort and care at the center. So, what makes this place so special? Let's break it down.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, Renown Institute for Heart & Vascular Health has welcomed two new Philips echocardiography ultrasound machines.
