Complex Heart Surgery Helps Patient Resume His Purpose Driven Life

Ed St. Jean III started having arrythmias in 2002 at age 19. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cardiomyopathy (a condition that affects the heart muscle) and ventricular tachycardia (an abnormal heart rhythm). Doctors performed a cardiac ablation and placed an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) that would track his heart rate and rhythm, then deliver an electric shock if it detected an irregularity.

Eight years later, when the ICD battery needed to be replaced, Ed asked his doctor to remove the device because it had never gone off. The doctor refused.

Fast forward to 2022. Ed lives in Delaware; he’s married and has three children. He’s on the beach, starting to dig a pit for a bonfire as part of a big fall get together at his home.

“The first time the shovel hit the sand, I got a shock. I didn’t know what it was at first, then it happened again. I kept getting shocked. I was scared, but trying to keep everyone else calm,” says Ed, who got to the hospital, where they were able to turn off the ICD.

That’s when Ed began researching and interviewing providers from different medical institutions, including Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute, where providers agreed he didn’t need the ICD.

Ed insisted on seeking care at Cleveland Clinic rather than seeking care in his home state of Delaware. (Photo Courtesy: Ed St. Jean III)

While at a meeting in Philadelphia, Ed felt “off.” He called his wife, Katie, telling her he needed to see his cardiologist right away. The nurse in the office checked his pulse oximetry, and his blood oxygen was very low. Ed drove from the office to the hospital, where a scan showed he had a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in his lung.  

Despite pressure from providers to stay local for his care, Ed insisted he come to Cleveland Clinic. Thanks to a connection from his professional life, he worked with his insurer, and was flown to Cleveland on a small emergency medical jet, then transported by ambulance to Cleveland Clinic. Katie was by his side.

When he arrived, his oxygen levels were so low that he was placed on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a type of artificial life support that can help a person whose lungs and heart aren’t functioning properly.

“By the grace of God, Dr. Elgharably was called in to see me when I was on ECMO in the cardiac intensive care unit,” says Ed. “He could not have been a better fit for everything I had going on.”

Haytham Elgharably, MD, is a cardiothoracic surgeon with special training in complex adult cardiac surgery, pulmonary endarterectomy (removal of chronic clots from the lung vessels), and lung failure/transplantation, meaning he can provide surgical care to patients with heart and lung conditions.

“Ed was in rough shape. He had a congenital heart defect between the right and left chambers of his heart that can contribute to the low oxygen level and developed calcified blood clots (chronic hard masses) on the surface of the ICD leads. A clot had traveled to his right lung, leading to a blockage that was preventing oxygen from getting to that lung,” says Dr. Elgharably.   

On January 19, 2022, Dr. Elgharably removed the blood clot in Ed’s lung, repaired the defect between the two sides of his heart, and removed the ICD hardware system. He also reconstructed Ed’s badly damaged tricuspid valve, avoiding the need for a mechanical valve.

Thanks to Dr. Elgharably work, Ed was able to make a speedy recovery. He now commutes to Cleveland once a year for checkups. (Photo Courtesy: Ed St. Jean III)

“Dr. Elgharably could have used a prosthetic valve, but taking my younger age and busy life raising three kids into consideration, rather than face the likelihood of another surgery down the road, he chose the far more complex and compassionate process of repairing my existing valve,” says Ed.

Physical recovery from the surgery went relatively quickly, and Ed now sees a local cardiologist and returns to Cleveland for annual checkups with Dr. Elgharably. However, the mental impact of all he experienced was harder to overcome – Ed shares that it took him about a year to feel like himself again.

Today, Ed is living a blessed life with his wife and family. “God has been very good to me. And Dr. Elgharably is my hero. He’s had a massive impact on my life, and I’ll owe him forever in my eyes,” he says.