At the tender age of 3, Hope Howard Parsley underwent open-heart surgery to repair a congenital defect: a hole in her heart. The surgery was a success, and she lived a normal and energetic life.
I never attributed being tired to my heart.
More than four decades later, however, she constantly felt drained and lethargic. But, she says, “I never attributed being tired to my heart.”
After a scary episode with a racing heartbeat and arm pain, Hope’s local hospital sent her to Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. There she met Pei-Hsui Huang, M.D., medical director of the Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Program.
After some tests, “Dr. Huang explained that I had a repair that lasted 47 years and that at this point, it failed and needs to be replaced,” Hope says