Heart to Heart to Heart
If hospitals offered friends and family discounts, the Lindberg family would qualify in spades—or make that hearts. Three generations of Lindberg men have received cardiac ablations at Cleveland Clinic, all performed by Oussama Wazni, MD, MBA. As section head for Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Wazni specializes in electrophysiology—and in the health of Mike, Eric and Michael Lindberg.
“It is amazing that I got to treat the three generations,” says Dr. Wazni. “It’s an honor, but it’s also a responsibility.”
Cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) first affected Mike Lindberg, now 73 and living in Miramar Beach, Florida, when he was flying F-4 fighter jets in the U.S. Marine Corps. “After I left the service, it became more serious,” he says.
Mike soon learned that he had atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heart rhythm that begins in the heart’s upper chambers and can cause fatigue, heart palpitations, trouble breathing and dizziness. What he didn’t know at the time was that his son, Eric, had a similar condition.
“I had a very normal, healthy, asymptomatic childhood,” says Eric, now 49 and a Greenwich, Connecticut, resident. “I didn’t have any idea that there was this kind of heart condition brewing inside my body.”
That changed during Eric’s junior year at the U.S. Air Force Academy, when the chief cardiologist pulled him out of a midterm exam. A routine flight physical had shown damage to his heart that was consistent with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. “I went over to the hospital to talk to him, and he told me I had a 50-50 chance of dying in the next two years.”
Eric went on to graduate from the Academy, although his dreams of being a fighter pilot were over. Through his Air Force cardiologist, he was introduced to and sought care from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Cardiologists there placed him into a clinical trial for the drug carvedilol, which quickly started to reverse the weakening of his heart function. Later into his 20s, he also began experiencing mild arrythmia and pre-ventricular contractions.
With a family link to arrhythmia becoming obvious, Mike and Eric’s local cardiologist in Connecticut, suggested that they travel to Yale University for a genetic study, which concluded they were almost genetic “carbon copies.”
In fact, the two share an anomaly on the TTN gene—as does Eric’s son Michael—that increases the odds for AFib and ventricular tachycardia (VT) to occur. “It causes certain changes in the structure of the heart and causes a tendency towards arrhythmia,” Mike says.
Armed with that knowledge, and at the suggestion of a cardiologist at the University of Colorado, Mike consulted with Dr. Wazni, who suggested ablation to treat his AFib.
“With AFib, we ablate around the pulmonary veins; in most patients, they are the ones that trigger AFib,” Dr. Wazni says. “With VT, we ablate the trigger mechanism in the ventricle.”
“The first ablation for me lasted seven years before I started experiencing problems again,” Mike says. “What they’ve found is that the tissue where the signal originates starts to regenerate after a period of time. So, I just recently had my third ablation.”
Like Father, Like Son
Meanwhile, Eric didn’t change his treatment regimen until he went skiing in Colorado at age 40. “That’s really where the beast reared its ugly head,” he says.
After his youngest son, J.R., had a crash, Eric hiked down the ski run to get J.R.’s gear, hiked back up again and promptly went into cardiac arrest. “From that point on, I started to have pretty intense ventricular and atrial arrhythmia issues,” he says.
Eric had one ablation done at Yale Health, but given the unique techniques required to ablate the source of Eric’s arrhythmia, cardiologists there recommended he have a second ablation at either Cleveland Clinic or Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Cleveland Clinic was the obvious choice, given his dad’s treatment, the deep experience of Dr. Wazni and his team, and the outstanding patient service.
Three’s Company
It wasn’t long before Eric’s son, Michael, also began seeing Dr. Wazni. Knowing the family’s genetic history, Eric had each of his children tested as they entered puberty. “My brother, sister and I all got tested, and I was the lucky one,” Michael jokes.
His first arrhythmia occurred when he felt his heart racing after a high school aquatics class. Soon, he was diagnosed with AFib. “Being a minor with AFib made things 10 times more difficult because there really are not that many adult cardiologists that want to mess with a 16-year-old,” he says.
AFib didn’t prevent him from graduating or from playing rugby throughout high school (“much to the chagrin of my cardiologist,” he jokes). Nor did it prevent him from entering the University of Alabama, where he’s a biology major, pre-med track.
During his freshman year, Michael regularly battled AFib. He changed his medication and then had his first ablation this past summer. Since then, he has noticed dramatic improvement. “I am the healthiest I have been since my diagnosis. Although I am still hyper-aware of my body, I live a normal life.”
All three Lindbergs continue to see Dr. Wazni; Mike has also received care from Pasquale Santangeli, MD, PhD, at Cleveland Clinic. Mike and Eric have both supported Cleveland Clinic financially with their respective employers, IBM and U.S. Bank, providing matching contributions.
Following the ablations performed by Dr. Wazni and the Cleveland Clinic team, the Lindbergs are leading full, active lives. Among them, they participate in a range of sports, including golf, skiing, swimming and scuba diving. Mike retired after a successful thirty-year career as an executive at IBM. Eric is an executive at U.S. Bank and Michael is enjoying his time in college before he heading to medical school.
“With other management, including medications and having a defibrillator where indicated, they can live very healthy lives,” Dr. Wazni says. “We don’t put any restrictions on them.”
“My grandpa served in the Marines. My dad graduated from the Air Force Academy and is still healthy. I played sports all my life, and I’m in a field of study that requires high intensity,” Michael says. “This ailment is not debilitating for any of us. It’s something that we have to work through, but it’s not the end all be all.”
In short, the Lindbergs are linked by arrhythmia, but they’re not defined by it.
A Second Opinion Becomes a Lifesaving Decision
Facing devastating news that his increasingly complex heart condition was life-threatening but inoperable, Frank Lee turned to Cleveland Clinic’s Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute for a second opinion. He and his wife, Libba, insist Cleveland Clinic lifted them up out of a “hole of despair” the moment they visited the website and called the main number they found there.
Frank’s successful outcome – as well as all the positive interactions he and his wife had at Cleveland Clinic – inspired what Frank called a “real-time response … an expression of gratitude for blessings and of support for … good works.” Frank and Libba made a five-year pledge to support cardiovascular medicine, research and education priorities.
The Lees’ heartfelt story began in the spring of 2023 when Frank experienced shortness of breath, presumably triggered from a bout of COVID-19. He was examined by doctors in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who discovered that his 15-year-old mechanical aortic valve was faulty and his mitral valve was prolapsed with a frayed cord. Frank underwent an emergency sternotomy to replace both valves, but six weeks later returned to the hospital when his oxygen levels sank. A second sternotomy proved almost fatal due to complications resulting from scar tissue from previous surgeries. His doctors acknowledged to Libba that Frank might not survive the night. Then, when Frank’s surgical team found there was still a leak remaining post-surgery, they concluded nothing more could be done. They couldn’t go back into his chest due to the scar tissue.
“They had done all they could do,” Frank said. “With no medical options and the likelihood that the leak would worsen over time … essentially a time bomb … my despair was palpable.”
Fortunately, Frank had a routine visit scheduled with his primary care physician. It was his PCP who urged him to contact Cleveland Clinic because “they are the best in the world in cardiology, especially in dealing with repair issues.”
Competence and Compassion Led to Hope
The Lees felt immediately comfortable with the culture and care at Cleveland Clinic.
“The patience, the empathy, and the concern expressed on that first call was amazingly calming and hope-building,” Frank reflected. The caregiver who answered the phone “had the ability and authority to question, interpret and make a judgment, share her recommendation, and get my concurrence on the next step. In my case, it was to have an appointment with cardiovascular imaging specialist L. Leonardo Rodriguez, MD.” She explained to Frank that an appointment nurse would schedule a visit within the next two days, but that she would personally follow up to ensure that happened. “Wow,” Frank wrote in a letter to the Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, “caring meets commitment.”
The positive impressions continued when Frank and Libba arrived at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus. “While we’re standing there just looking at the reception area … five different people stopped. … They saw somebody who looked like they might need some help. It was the empathy beyond what you expect a doctor to have for your health issue. … It was a blend of empathy and professionalism. It spoke volumes. I would have expected elite-level knowledge and skills and technology, mainly at the MD level … but I really hadn’t expected an elite level of patient interaction at the initial point of contact.
“What became even more impressive was the consistency of that ‘patient concern’ in every subsequent interaction we had. The DNA seems to be, ‘No matter what your role, be upbeat, caring, patient and professional.’” The Lees were further delighted to hear Dr. Rodriguez assure them what they do “all day long … fix things that other people can’t.”
During his transthoracic echocardiogram, Frank asked “a very engaged, positive technician” what he liked about working at Cleveland Clinic. Frank was surprised but pleased with the response he heard. “He said, ‘The thing I like about it is that they don’t wait for machinery or mechanics to get old before they replace it. I know I’m going to constantly have to up my game because they’re going to constantly be giving me the latest technology to do the best job I can.’”
“The diagnostic echo technology used by Dr. Rodriguez and his team clarified the problem far more precisely than had been done previously,” Frank said. “Following a consultation with the surgical team, they concluded that I might be a good candidate for a clinical trial for the newest generation of valvular plug, which could be implanted by catheter.”
The Lees returned home understanding that Frank’s care would continue under the direction of Samir Kapadia, MD, chair of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. Six weeks later, having completed the clinical trial interview, pre-procedure echocardiogram and testing on the day before, Frank was in surgical prep.
“Then the bombshell – or what would have been a bombshell at most other places: The echo had revealed that the paravalvular leak had increased 50%,” which meant Frank no longer met a specific requirement for trial participation. His leak was now larger than the single new plug being tested could fix.
Before the Lees could process the news, another solution was presented, which Dr. Kapadia explained in detail. A procedure that would allow insertion of four smaller plugs of a previous model had been approved for adjacent installation, he said. The minimally invasive procedure was completed without complication and the Lees flew home the next day. A recent echo, the couple reported, indicated no valve leak.
Since the surgery, the Lees have moved to the Charleston, South Carolina, area to be closer to family – including their six grandchildren – though they plan to move Frank’s annual cardiac care to Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.
Cleveland Clinic is nationally ranked and globally recognized as the world leader in cardiovascular care. The Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute is one of the largest cardiovascular and thoracic specialty groups in the world, providing patients with expert medical management and a full range of therapies, combining research, education and clinical practice to provide innovative and scientifically based treatments for cardiac, vascular, esophageal, and thoracic disease.Cleveland Clinic stands committed to providing the best care possible for patients with cardiovascular conditions. Learn how your support will make an impact.
A “Thank You” With a Lasting Legacy
To honor his wife of 25 years, John Heyman is creating a legacy for her that will elevate nursing education and medical mentoring programs in South Florida.
A native of New York, John met his wife, Kathy, in Palm Beach in 2000. “We met online, back in the early days of online dating,” John recalls with fondness. “We were pioneers.”
“Kathy noticed my profile, which said that I play golf and occasionally stayed at my parents’ house in Delray Beach,” he says. “She sent me a message saying, ‘I live in Wellington and I play golf.’ So I said, ‘Well, let’s go out to dinner,’ and that was it.”
The two got married – each with two daughters from previous marriages – and enjoyed a full life together for 25 years.
Kathy thrived in a decades-long private banking career in Philadelphia, Boston and Palm Beach until she retired in 2013. She also served on the board of the Palm Beach Zoo and was an advisor to the Community Redevelopment Agency of West Palm Beach. From 1986 to 1988 John served a term as a professional accounting fellow at the Securities Exchange Commission ((SEC) and then became the national director of SEC Practice and a senior technical partner of a national accounting firm until 1993. He continued until 2012 to consult with public companies on a broad range of issues and provides expert testimony on accounting and financial reporting-related litigation.
Despite their busy professional lives, the two relished their downtime with friends and family, especially their three granddaughters. At the top of their favorite-things-to-do list were golf, gambling (Kathy adored the slot machines), cooking and travel.
“We saw a lot of the world together,” John says. “We’ve been to the South Pacific Islands, Australia, most of Europe, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana … but when Kathy got ill, that was something we had to discontinue.”
A Devastating Diagnosis
Four years ago, Kathy was bombarded with health challenges, beginning with diverticulitis, then colon infections and an inflamed liver and, finally, aggressive, inoperable breast cancer. Her many stays at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital ended in late September 2024 when she was discharged to go home under hospice care. She died on October 11.
John is grateful to Kathy’s care team, led by Dana Sands, MD, staff surgeon in the Department of Colorectal Surgery and Director of the Colorectal Physiology Center at Weston Hospital. “All the doctors and nurses and everybody else at Cleveland Clinic did everything humanly possible,” says John. “They gave us hope.”
“Everything was fine until Dr. Sands felt a lump (on Kathy’s left breast) and ordered a mammogram and determined that, totally separate and apart, Kathy had developed aggressive cancer,” John says. “Because of all her other problems, her platelets and blood counts and everything were just too low to even do a biopsy, much less surgery. So at that point, Kathy decided she’d had enough. She was tired and she wanted to go home.”
To honor Kathy, John supports educational and career programs at Weston Hospital. Specifically, he made a significant financial gift to fund nurse training in appreciation of the nurses on the 5-Tower unit. “Just about every night when I would leave, whatever nurses were at the desk would say to me, ‘Get home carefully.’” Kathy, he said, appreciated the nursing care and kindness, but also the efficiency. “She always said to me that the difference was … when the shift changed, the nurse going off duty and the nurse coming on duty came in the room and the one nurse briefed the other. Kathy didn’t have to sit there and explain to the new nurse why she’s there or what’s been going on the last 12 hours. That made her life a whole lot easier.”
John also has elected to provide ongoing support of the Early Medical Education Mentoring Programs, which Dr. Sands leads. The Summer Scholars Program is a free educational program that provides a unique shadowing experience for rising high school seniors, and the newer Highschool Pathways Program offers year-round educational and mentorship opportunities to students at select schools in Broward County. “This is introducing students who might otherwise not even finish high school, or might not think of college or community college, and it’s introducing them to the opportunities in the healthcare field. Some of them will catch the bug and go all the way and become doctors,” John says.
“I cannot say enough about all of the doctors and all of the nurses and all of the healthcare professionals at Weston, especially Dana Sands, who obviously is a very skilled surgeon, but also gets heavily invested in her patients,” says John. “She would – even on days that Kathy wasn’t there for a surgical reason – check on her at night and call me on her way home to let me know how Kathy was doing.”
John says his philanthropy is in part inspired by the 12th century Jewish rabbi and philosopher Moses Maimonides’ Ladder of Tzedakah, which teaches that the best form of charity makes the recipient self-sufficient. “The highest rung of philanthropy,” John explains, “is that you give money that enables the beneficiaries to improve their position in life and not need charity in the future.”
