Photo Courtesy Of Judy Morris

A 75-Year-Old Realtor, Armed with a New Heart Valve, Is the Life of the Party

In the 44 years of her marriage, Judy Morris had been to the hospital only three times. But after her husband died in 2010, Morris was hospitalized nine times in just three years.

“Once for cellulitis,” says the 75-year-old real-estate broker. “Once for sepsis. Once for a cyst. Once for spinal stenosis.” She endured these various complications as a reality of advanced age. But one episode affected her heart.

“I got up during the middle of the night and I didn’t feel well,” she says. “My heart felt a little funny.” She soon learned that she was experiencing symptoms of a disease common among people her age, aortic stenosis, which causes the aortic valve to narrow and restricts blood flow to the heart. More than 2.5 million people in the United States over the age of 75 suffer from aortic stenosis, and if left untreated, it’s fatal.

But Morris met with a cardiologist on call at the local Emergency Department the night she was experiencing heart issues. Over the next year and a half, the doctor monitored Morris’ heart, eventually recommending that she be fitted with a new heart valve through a procedure called TAVR.

Photo Courtesy Of Judy Morris

TAVR, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, is considered the new standard in heart valve technology and is a minimally invasive alternative to open-heart surgery. During the procedure, a fully collapsible valve enters through a femoral artery in the groin, and reopens the blocked aortic valve.

Morris dug in and did her research. Already familiar with the medical field thanks to her husband, a dentist, Morris also consulted with her son, an EMT, and her daughter, a pharmaceutical representative. Collectively and with her doctor’s recommendation, the family agreed that the procedure was the way to go.

“I’m a diabetic,” Morris says. “I don’t heal very well. When I cut my finger, it’s the pits. I was not going to have my ribs broken for open-heart surgery. I had made my decision.”

One doctor gave Morris a 50–50 chance that he would be able to do the procedure. He told her it was matter of waiting until they were in the operating room to see whether Morris would need the procedure or open-heart surgery. But set on the procedure, Morris wanted a guarantee that she could have it. Her cardiologist eventually referred her to a cardiac surgeon affiliated with Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

On Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Morris was fitted with her new aortic valve. “I felt great,” Morris says. “I was back to work the next Monday, and I was driving ten days later.”

“I felt great. I was back to work the next Monday, and I was driving ten days later.”

Morris keeps very busy. She goes to work every day at the real-estate business she’s run in Holmdel, New Jersey, since 1976. “I love selling houses and vacant land,” she says. “I just adore doing whatever I can to keep busy.”

With three grandkids ages 14, 11, and 3, and hobbies including tennis and golf, Morris has no shortage of activities — and friends — to keep her on the move. “I have my grandkids, my son and my daughter,” she says. “And 25 friends who are all younger than me. We party. We dance. We do everything.”

Morris was recently back in the hospital for back surgery due to an injury in a car accident. After the procedure for her heart, she grew accustomed to outdoing her younger friends. “I’m getting my back surgery so they can’t keep up with me again,” she says.

Sponsored by Edwards Lifesciences.

Please click on the Important Safety Information link below for a full description of risk information.

Important Risk Information: newheartvalve.com/

    Edwards Lifesciences

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    Edwards Lifesciences is the global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring.

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