Patients with heart failure in ECU Health’s Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) program come from many walks of life. During an annual VADiversary celebration, they had a chance to share common ground as they reflected on how the treatment has given them back their voice, their mobility and their peace of mind.
ECU Health established its LVAD program in 2017. An LVAD is a highly specialized pump placed in patients with end stage heart failure. The battery-powered device has been shown to significantly improve heart function and relieve symptoms of heart failure, reduce hospitalizations and improve mortality rates in patients.
Dr. Matthew Colna, chief of Heart Failure and medical director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, said patients can live an average of five to six years longer with an LVAD.
“Patients who receive an LVAD are among the sickest patients we treat,” Dr. Colna said. “The LVAD does not just improve their quality of life and extend their lifespan, it provides hope for those patients and their families. It lets them get back to doing what they love, and this VADiversary is our chance to celebrate their improved health and what we see as their second chance at life.”
The VADiversary celebration included a patient panel, where former patient Eddie Thompson told a gathered crowd how shortness of breath caused by heart failure stole his ability to sing at church.
“After one verse, I would be out of breath,” Thompson said. “I was frustrated.”
Thompson received an LVAD in 2023 and a heart transplant in 2024. Now he can sing without issue, and even showcased that talent for his providers, fellow patients and family from his spot on the panel with a two-minute hymn. He didn’t miss a beat, or skip a breath.
“I’m very happy to be able to do something I love again,” Thompson said.
Different paths, one community
ECU Health’s LVAD program currently supports 47 patients through a multidisciplinary team who are available to their patients 24 hours a day should they need consultation, or should an emergency arise. That leads to strong bonds and, for patients, even better peace of mind in their care.
Patients also regularly gather for monthly fellowship meetings featuring food, games and conversation. The meetings give them a place to know they are not alone in their experiences despite their seemingly unique circumstances.
Theresa Lynn of Greenville was diagnosed with heart failure in 2015. At first, she did not let the diagnosis slow her down and continued driving for rideshares and taking care of her family. In 2019, she took her daughter to give birth at ECU Health Medical Center.
“The whole time, I was in pain,” Lynn said. “My daughter told the nurse I was a heart patient. They took my blood pressure, it was sky high, and they took me to the emergency department.”
Lynn found out she had been having a “massive” heart attack the entire day. A cardiologist told her about LVAD and that she would have to stay inpatient due to her condition. She agreed to the procedure, a decision she said has shaped her life in more ways than one. She is once again on the move, traveling domestically and abroad to see old friends and experience new places.
Norleen Edwards suffered a heart attack in 2021, said that team has helped her significantly with the worry she felt about the device and heart failure in general.
“They always were on my side, even before I got the LVAD,” Edwards said. “I had a lot of anxiety, they helped talk me through it. These guys, oh my God, they’re the best team ever.”
The meetings are also a place to share how patients and their families have an impact on the greater community in eastern North Carolina. Terry Woolard of Washington, an Operation Desert Storm veteran and cancer survivor, was working as a nurse in West Virginia when a cardiac event landed him in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hospital. That’s where he first found out he had heart failure.
Woolard continued various treatments for the condition until 2016, when he was introduced to LVAD through the team at ECU Health. He has had his LVAD the longest of any patient being treated by ECU Health’s multidisciplinary team, and has embraced a role as a teacher along with that of an LVAD patient. In his free time he allows nursing and emergency services students at community colleges to listen to his heart to know what to expect should they need to respond to an incident involving an LVAD patient.
“My heart does not sound the same as yours,” Woolard said. “I want them to know what they are getting into, know that there are different ways they need to treat patients like me. It’s my way of giving back.”
Lynn, and other patients, are sometimes asked to speak with prospective LVAD patients who are concerned about the procedure. She said the opportunity to share firsthand how the device has helped improve her quality of life has become something of a calling.
“I feel like that’s why God brought me back,” Lynn said. “I knew I had a purpose, and now that purpose is to be an advocate for LVAD and heart failure patients. I love what I do.”
Dean Sauls spent over 40 years as an educator in Wayne County. In May of 2024, he went on a Disney trip to Florida with his wife, in-laws and nine children. He felt out of breath, constantly having to cut his day at the park short to go back and rest at the group’s hotel.
At a routine appointment in July of that year, a physician told Sauls he might only live another year without some kind of intervention. Three weeks later, he had an LVAD procedure.
“I started rehab and I was on the walker, just zigzagging and counting my steps,” Sauls said. “When I got home, I’d walk around the yard when the weather wasn’t too hot. Just anything to stay in shape.
“I really understand eastern North Carolina and I appreciate what the medical center does for this community,” he continued. “I look forward to this reunion; it’s a great thing to be a part of.”
Critical care close to home
Timothy Bizzell of Beulaville has been living with his LVAD for five years. In 2021, he fainted at home and regained consciousness face down on the floor as his wife called for an ambulance. He was transported for care at ECU Health Medical Centera cardiovascular physician told him his heart had stopped.
“He asked me, do I want to live or do I want to stay like I was?” Bizzell said. “I want to live. He told me about this program, the LVAD program.”
In Duplin County, Bizzell said his mind is at ease knowing that there are people and treatments that can support his condition close to home. That’s important in rural areas where, according to a 2024 report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services rates of heart disease are higher than urban sectors of the state due in part to limited access to healthy food, transportation and access to care.
According to the most recent Center for Disease Control data on local heart failure mortality from 2010-19, the 29 counties where ECU Health provides care saw an average of 25.5 deaths from heart failure per 100,000 people aged 35-64, higher than the statewide average of 21.1 deaths from heart failure per 100,000 people aged 35-64 in that same period of time.
“It gives me a lot of hope, knowing this type of team and this technology is just down the road,” Bizzell said. “I’m grateful for the team. I know all I have to do is call. It’s not going around the corner, it’s right there.”
Before his LVAD, Bizzell said he visited the hospital twice a month due to complications from heart failure. Ever since getting the device, he said he only goes to the doctor for scheduled appointments.
“It could have been the other way, but I have another chance,” Bizzell said. “I thank God for the LVAD team. They gave me that second chance, they gave me quality of life.”
Dr. Colna agreed that access to a specialized tool like LVAD plays a significant role in improving cardiovascular health outcomes in eastern North Carolina.
“It’s of the utmost importance that ECU Health can provide these patients the therapy they need in their own community,” Dr. Colna said. “Otherwise, they would have to travel long and far for treatment. We can offer it in their own backyard.”
In 2025, Caroliena McCoy was a junior in ROTC teaching marksmanship to a few kids in her group when another student accidentally stepped on Caroliena’s right leg. A week later, she experienced a medical emergency.
“My right leg hurt but after four days it improved and we thought everything was okay,” Caroliena said. “By the following Tuesday, I was limping.”
“I picked her up from school and she was pale and looked tired,” added Caroliena’s aunt, Connie. “Before I could get out of the parking lot, her eyes rolled back and she started sucking air like she couldn’t breathe. I thought she was having a seizure.”
The assistant principal of Ayden-Grifton High School directed Connie to pull over and brought out two teachers: Ms. Alphin and Ms. James. Sylvia James was the health science teacher and she and Ms. Alphin were both first responders; before joining the school system, Sylvia worked at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital for 33 years as a nurse.
“I had started to come out of it by then, but Ms. James recommended we call 911,” Caroliena said. The EMTs could only determine Caroliena had high blood sugar, but Ms. James recommended she still go to the emergency department at Maynard Children’s Hospital.
“Ms. James saved me because she thought I was showing signs of respiratory distress,” Caroliena said.
“I was called out because they said someone had a seizure, but then I saw how dusky blue Caroliena was, and her oxygen saturation wasn’t good,” Sylvia said. “I had seen her just the day before and knew about her leg pain, and it sounded like she had complications from an injury that caused the respiratory distress. I called the rescue squad right away.”
At the hospital, the emergency department team acted quickly by running tests, including x-rays, a CT scan and ultrasounds, to figure out what was going on with the 17-year-old. It turns out Ms. James was right.
“I had blood clots in both lungs and my right leg,” Caroliena said. “My episode in the car was the result of me not getting oxygen to my brain.”
Dr. M. Umer Tariq
That’s where Dr. M. Umer Tariq stepped in.
“We recommended she have a mechanical thrombectomy for pulmonary embolism immediately,” Dr. Tariq said. “It’s a minimally invasive, percutaneous treatment—meaning you aspirate the clots out with a catheter. It’s done while the patient is awake and it’s a life-saving procedure. Pulmonary embolism is the third leading cause of cardiovascular deaths behind stroke and heart attack.”
This was an unusual situation, as 17-year-olds don’t often present with blood clots, but Dr. Tariq felt confident about the treatment plan.
“Our program has been doing this for at least six years now and it’s performed by cardiology and vascular surgery. The novelty in this case was working with the pediatric ICU and cardiology teams,” Dr. Tariq said. “We told Caroliena that when the clot in the lungs are large and another breaks off from the leg, it can be fatal.”
“Dr. Tariq explained everything very well and answered all our questions. I’m glad he was her doctor,” Connie said.
Caroliena looks back on her experience with gratitude for the care she received—both at the school and the hospital.
“Ms. James recognized the urgency of the situation,” she said. “Dr. Tariq was very straight forward and talked to us about the procedure, and during the procedure a nurse—I don’t remember her name—stayed with me and held my hand.”
Her favorite part was getting a visit from Sam, Maynard Children’s Hospital’s facility dog.
“That was really special,” Caroliena said. “She made me think of my dog at home that I was missing, and that made me feel a lot better.”
Caroliena is doing well now. Her care team determined she has a Factor V Leiden mutation of one of the clotting factors in blood, which raises the risk for developing harmful blood clots; that means she has to be on a low-dose blood thinner from now on.
“I still have some limitations,” she said. “If I am in one position for too long my leg hurts, and my plan to join the military after college had to change. Now I plan to attend Pitt Community College and then transfer to East Carolina University to study geology.”
“I’m so thankful I was at school that day,” Sylvia said. “I knew Caroliena was in trouble the minute I saw her. Those nurse instincts just kicked in. I’m so thankful the emergency department providers acted quickly and they got her into surgery. Caroliena was incredibly brave through the whole thing. She showed resilience and bounced back quickly.”
Greenville, N.C. – ECU Health has expanded access to advanced heart care through the AltaValve™ system, a minimally-invasive, catheter-deployed tool to treat higher-risk heart patients who previously had few treatment options.
Dr. Brian Cabarrus, ECU Health interventional cardiologist, and Dr. Wiley Nifong, ECU Health cardiovascular surgeon, successfully implanted ECU Health’s first Supra-annular Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement — the AltaValve system — on July 30, 2026.
The procedure was made possible through ECU Health’s participation in A Transseptal Left Atrial System for Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation (ATLAS) trial. ECU Health Medical Center was the second hospital in the state to treat a patient using the AltaValve system.
AltaValve is a transcatheter mitral valve replacement developed by 4C Medical Technologies Inc. designed for patients with mitral valve disease who may not be able to receive traditional surgical valve replacement due to factors like advanced age. It is also designed to treat inoperable patients who previously underwent valve repair procedures.
The mitral valve is one of four valves in the heart that allows blood to flow normally through the left ventricle and into the rest of the body. When the mitral valve is unable to fully open, or if it leaks, it may need to be replaced.
“ECU Health is opening new doors for patients with mitral valve conditions who are not candidates for traditional surgery, which is especially important here in eastern North Carolina where patients are disproportionately affected by heart disease compared to the rest of the nation,” said Dr. Cabarrus. “Our first patient was discharged within 48 hours, the kind of outcome every physician hopes to see.”
Unlike traditional open-heart surgery, the AltaValve device is inserted through a vein in the leg with a catheter. The valve is deployed into the heart and naturally aligns with the patient’s mitral valve to treat symptoms.
“Expanding access to innovative treatment options reflects ECU Health’s commitment to advancing cardiovascular care and improving health outcomes across the region,” said Jay Briley, president, ECU Health Medical Center. “By pairing leading-edge technology with the expertise of our clinicians, we are delivering high-quality care close to home and creating a healthier future for the communities we serve.”
In eastern North Carolina, summer can be a time of backyard cookouts or days spent at the beach. However, soaring temperatures and smothering humidity put residents at risk of heat-related illnesses that are even more dangerous for people with a heart condition.
Dr. Blase Carabello, ECU Health cardiologist and chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, explained that the heart has to work overtime in extreme heat as the body tries to regulate its temperature.
“Most people are familiar with a car’s radiator, and they know that if the radiator does not work, they will be stuck on the side of the road with steam coming out of the hood,” Dr. Carabello said. “The human body’s radiator is the skin, and when you need to get rid of heat, your heart needs to pump extra blood to the skin to let that radiator work. Almost anyone with a heart condition who already has a weakened heart or some other difficulty is going to be stressed by the heat or have trouble regulating their body’s fluids.”
High temperatures put people at risk of heat exhaustion, which can cause symptoms such as lightheadedness, rapid pulse, low blood pressure, headache or nausea. Anyone who begins to experience those symptoms needs to get out of the sun and drink fluids, Dr. Carabello said. If you stop sweating in hot weather, or start shivering, that’s an indication your health is at risk.
Heat stroke, where the body reaches a temperature over 104-degrees, is a life-threatening condition that requires treatment.
“The body’s temperature can reach the point where it will shut down all activity unless you receive treatment,” Dr. Carabello emphasized. “If someone around you says they feel lightheaded or like they are going to faint in the heat, it is important to act. Check their pulse and, if that does not look right, call for help. It’s much better to have a false alarm than the alternative.”
Dr. Carabello said that when a heat advisory is issued, people need to use their best judgment and make the right decision for their health. When heat indices climb into triple digits, it’s very difficult for the body to regulate. He pointed out that at the World Cup, even some of the best athletes on the planet take heat breaks during their soccer matches.
“If some of the best athletes in the world need that, think about if you’re not on that level,” Dr. Carabello said. “People tend to think they can do anything, that they are super people, but the truth is that the kind of heat we can experience in eastern North Carolina can put your heart to the test. You don’t need to test your heart, so don’t do that. Just use plain, old fashioned, common sense.”
Lindsay Dunning has been a patient access representative with ECU Health Neurosurgery for 13 years. She was drawn to her role in part because of her own diagnosis of scoliosis as a child, an experience that she said helps her connect with the patients she serves every day.
“I see patients come in and they’re worried, and I tell them I understand where they’re coming from and it’ll be okay,” Dunning said.
The Robersonville native never expected she would help her husband during a time of medical crisis, however.
“It was a Monday night in June 2022, and I was up feeding our four-week-old,” Dunning shared. “My husband Jeff had just put our four-year-old to bed and came in complaining his chest hurt. He said he didn’t feel right. Even though he didn’t have a history of heart issues, I said right then we were going to the ED.”
That decision, in part, saved her husband’s life.
“The doctors told him he’d had a heart attack, and they were going to do a heart catheterization immediately,” she said. “I had gone home to get our older child to school, and by the time I got back to the hospital, five doctors came into his room and told him he needed a triple bypass.”
An unexpected diagnosis
This news caught Lindsay and Jeff, who was only 38 at the time, by surprise.
“Jeff broke down; he didn’t know what to do,” Lindsay said. “He was going to have to miss work. We had an infant and a small child at home, and my mother had recently died. On top of that, my sister-in-law had just had her baby at 27 weeks, and our niece was in the NICU. We had a lot going on.”
Thankfully, Lindsay’s mother-in-law was there to help watch the kids while Jeff underwent surgery. Dr. Michael Bates rearranged his schedule so he could perform the surgery before he went out on vacation.
“Dr. Bates came in the morning of surgery and it was like he’d known us our whole lives,” Lindsay said. “He gave me a hug and said everything was going to be okay. You just felt his confidence about how things would go.”
“He needed three bypasses and we did all three with arteries instead of veins,” Dr. Bates shared.
“Arterial bypasses last longer and improve survival, and we routinely do that here at ECU Health for younger patients. Our rate of multi-arterial bypass is two times the national average and is a marker for high-performing cardiac surgery programs.”
The road to recovery
During Jeff’s 11-day hospital stay, Lindsay said he received great care, right down to one of the volunteers who regularly took him for a walk in the halls. Jeff also participated in cardiac rehab, but he was determined to recover as quickly as possible and walked a mile every morning.
“Jeff works with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, so he wanted to get back to work as soon as possible,” Lindsay said.
Once he returned home, Jeff still required some assistance, and Lindsay had her hands full with two small children. Thankfully, she said, their community of family, friends and co-workers chipped in by establishing a meal train, taking Jeff out for rides, calling and texting and mowing their lawn.
Jeff went back to work that August, and his annual cardiology follow-up appointments show everything is working as it should. Lindsay said that Jeff tells her regularly, “You saved my life!” She’s pretty humble about that, but she is quick to thank Dr. Bates and God for his quick and skilled intervention.
“The Heart Center is top notch, and we are so thankful for the care we received and for Dr. Bates,” she said. “He told us that Jeff’s condition was a ‘ticking time bomb,’ but he expects this bypass to last Jeff a lifetime.”
As a former East Carolina University football player, Javon Brumsey knows all about hard work. Now a teacher for South Central High School, where he recently won the Beginning Teacher of the Year award, Brumsey always considered himself to be in good shape.
“I just turned 38, and I’ve always been a fit guy,” he said. “But last summer I noticed I got out a breath walking up and down hills and I had a different feeling in my chest and throat.”
That feeling went away – for a while. It resurfaced after a steak dinner, and Brumsey decided it was time to do something.
A serious threat revealed
“I asked my wife to stop at Walmart on the way home from the restaurant, and I took my blood pressure there,” he said. “It was high, so we bought a cuff and I checked my blood pressure twice a day. It was high every day.”
Worried, Brumsey made an appointment with his physician, but initial tests didn’t show anything was wrong aside from the high blood pressure readings. He was put on medications with instructions to reach out if his other symptoms returned.
“My blood pressure went down, but I kept having the strange feeling in my chest and feeling short of breath,” he said. “They checked me for reflux and they tried asthma medication, but that didn’t help. They were confused.”
Then, Brumsey’s cardiologist decided to try a CT scan using dye, and that’s when they found the blockage.
Located in his left anterior descending artery, the blockage was the kind that causes a heart attack sometimes known as the “widow maker,” so called because that artery supplies half of the blood to the heart.
“They called me back to the doctor’s office the same day, so I knew it was serious,” Brumsey said. “They tried to see if they could treat the blockage with a stent, but the artery was 95% blocked.”
Brumsey was admitted to the hospital immediately and scheduled for bypass surgery with Dr. Michael Bates the next day.
A renewed commitment to health
Brumsey recovered in the hospital for two weeks after surgery, followed by a second, shorter hospital stay to treat an infection. Once he was home for good, he immediately made an appointment with ECU Health’s Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation program.
“While I was in the hospital, I lost 15 pounds. I was feeling weak from being in bed, so I was excited to get my strength back,” he said.
From day one, the rehabilitation team made Brumsey feel like he was in good hands.
“The therapists knew I was strong and a big guy, but they wanted to be sure everything went well so they started me out light and gradually increased the challenge,” he said. “They were patient and supportive, checking my vitals every day before I worked out and again before I left. I trusted the process, and they looked out for me.”
In addition to exercise, Brumsey took a class on nutrition, including how to read food labels and prepare food, and he learned how to monitor his own vital signs at home. The class was helpful, and the connection he made with his fellow classmates encouraged him.
“I was the youngest one there, but everyone was supportive. Being with people who had also gone through this experience was a big deal,” he said. “It gave me motivation and that, along with my trust in God through this process, kept me motivated.”
Now, Brumsey continues to do what he can to prevent something like this from happening again.
“I had no family history of this. It was out of the blue,” he shared. “I have a treadmill at home and a weight bench, and I plan to continue exercising and eating better. I’ve been married for 10 years in July, and we have three kids. I want to stay on top of things.”
Brumsey also said he’s appreciative of the care he received at ECU Health, and he encourages anyone experiencing similar symptoms to see their doctor.
“Everyone did such a great job,” Brumsey said. “For anyone going through what I did, I recommend ECU Health to take care of them. I trust them.”
Research at East Carolina University is shedding light on how patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) recover physically in the months following surgery, and specifically, tracks a surprising early plateau in activity levels.
The findings were published this year in the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention.
The study analyzed data from 294 patients and found that while activity increases steadily after implant surgery initially, it levels off after about two months and remains unchanged for the next four.
Clinical health psychology doctoral candidate Elizabeth Jordan, the study’s first author, says the project began as a deep curiosity about how patients in different places and with different resources and backgrounds regain mobility after receiving a life‑saving device.
“I became involved with this study as my master’s thesis, when I developed an interest in physical activity patterns in CIED patients, particularly the period immediately following implantation,” Jordan said. “These devices contain accelerometers, which give us a wealth of objective activity data. That opened the door for me to really explore my research interests.”
Working alongside Dr. Samuel Sears, a psychologist known nationally and internationally for his work with cardiac device patients, Jordan helped design a study that captured 180 days of physical activity for each patient. The findings revealed that patients showed the most dramatic increase in movement between the first and second month post‑implantation. After that, a profound and unsatisfactory plateau set in for a statistically significant number of the patients studied.
According to Sears, this plateau highlights a critical moment in recovery.
“Clinically, we’ve always known patients have to restrict movement in the first several weeks to protect the implanted leads,” Sears said. “What this study shows is that the habits formed during that period might persist long after restrictions are lifted. The two‑month point may be a key moment for re‑engaging patients and helping them rebuild an active lifestyle.”
ECU’s Research Sample — From the East, For the East
The research sample reflected the demographics of the university’s largely rural region. Two thirds of patients studied live in rural communities, and 52% identify as Black, two demographic populations often underrepresented in cardiac device research.
Jordan said that seeing those numbers was one of the most striking parts of her work.
“Understanding physical activity in these groups is critically important because they face higher burdens of chronic illness and more limited access to specialty care,” she said.
Maeve Sargeant, another doctoral student who supported the analyses for the research, said what deserves special attention is the real-world data.
“Device-based activity data gives us a good look into how patients are really functioning in their daily lives,” Sargeant said. “Analyzing these patterns alongside the realities of work, caregiving and other responsibilities helps contextualize what recovery actually looks like for these patients.”
Different Hometowns, Different Outcomes
One remaining methodological challenge is that while CIED technology offers rich data into patient movement, it does not distinguish the intensity or type of activity.
Still, the findings point to a therapeutic direction for clinical psychologists, Sears said.
“These devices are with patients 24/7,” he said. “With a study like this, we have the research backing we need to leverage new data collected to better tailor rehab programs, and do so with limited patient facetime. We can identify struggling patients and improve long‑term outcomes.”
Jordan hopes to build on this work as she continues her doctoral training.
“If I could continue with this line of research, I’d like to examine differences in activity outcomes across geographical areas,” she said. “Comparing long‑term engagement and health outcomes between clinics across the United States could tell us so much about how environment and location shapes recovery.”
Jordan, who earned her undergraduate degrees in psychology and human development and family studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, plans to graduate with her doctorate in 2028. Her long‑term goal is to stay close to the populations highlighted in the study.
“In the future, I hope to continue providing psychological care to patients with chronic illness or those facing health disparities,” she said. “This research has only strengthened that commitment.”
It was a quiet day in the cardiology clinic when the echocardiogram technician at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital asked Michael Joyner, a nurse practitioner, for a favor.
“My schedule wasn’t full because I had only been working at that location for about a month, and the echocardiogram tech had a student,” Joyner said. “Their patient didn’t show up, so she asked if her student could practice using the equipment on me.”
When the student viewed Joyner’s heart, however, something unexpected showed up.
“I knew I had a heart murmur, but the technician looked concerned and took over the scan. Turns out my aortic root was dilated to more than twice its normal size,” he said.
The aortic root is where the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, is closest to the heart. A dilation, otherwise known as an aneurysm, is potentially life threatening.
“When you research aortic aneurysms, one of the first things you read is that the first symptom is often sudden death,” Joyner said. “They’re often asymptomatic, but if it ruptures, usually the only thing people can do for you is hold a funeral service.”
Help was only a call away
After the scan, Joyner spoke with a cardiologist immediately. It helped that he knew trusted team members from across the system.
“I asked one of my former students and a nurse practitioner, Brooke Kostok, if her colleague, Dr. Ben Degner, could look at my echocardiogram,” Joyner said. “He called me personally that afternoon and spent 20 minutes on the phone outlining what he thought about it and his recommended next steps. He didn’t have to do that.”
After a computerized tomography (CT) scan and an official diagnosis, which showed the amount of dilation was borderline, Michael and his physicians opted for a watch and wait approach.
“I had a new grandson on the way, and I didn’t want to be recovering from surgery during that time,” he said.
A repeat echocardiogram in the fall of 2025 showed the dilation had grown by a small amount. Joyner decided it was time to have surgery, and on Oct. 21, he underwent an aortic root replacement with aortic valve replacement and reimplantation of the coronary arteries – also known as the Bentall procedure.
“It was a long surgery, and I was lucky to have a network of people I could rely on for support, including Chris Baxter, a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), who was with me during the surgery,” Joyner said. “I wanted him at the head of the bed during my surgery because I had full confidence in him.”
Other colleagues provided support during the surgery by placing a PICC line or being present and supportive for Joyner’s wife, Gwin, and their son.
Recovery went well until day three, when Joyner experienced some post-operative atrial fibrillation – a not uncommon event after this type of surgery. Another former student, D.J. Smith, ACNP on the CVICU, helped restore Michael’s normal heart rhythm.
After seven days in the hospital, Joyner went home, but six weeks later, a post-operative CT scan showed some leakage at the site where an intraoperative cannula had been placed. He needed another surgery in December 2025.
Looking forward to the future
Taking nearly four months off work and undergoing two surgeries has been tough, but now Joyner is feeling better every day.
“It’s difficult to reconcile that you need surgery when you feel healthy. And when you work in health care, you know what could go wrong,” he said. “To have two surgeries – to have your chest opened twice – that’s a difficult recovery.”
Despite the mental and physical challenges, Joyner is clear about his perspective of gratitude.
“I don’t believe in coincidence,” he said. “So many things had to happen to get me where I am. I had to find out about the job at Beaufort – because I wasn’t looking for a new role – and then get the job. I had to be in the clinic that day and not have a patient. The echocardiogram tech had to have a student and a patient cancellation. It was a series of events coordinated by God.”
Joyner is scheduled to return to work in March, and he’s thankful to all the people who played a role in his diagnosis and recovery – especially his wife.
“Gwin is also a nurse at the hospital, but during this time she was my personal nurse and physical therapist,” Joyner said. “I’m fortunate to work in a profession where I was in the right spot at the right time, and to have a whole network of people I can call. That’s made the difference for me.”
Harmony Ward is a first-year undergraduate student at East Carolina University with a lifelong dream of one day becoming a nurse. It is a dream she almost had to put on pause as she instead found herself needing the very care she always hoped to provide.
Ward was just 17 years old when she started experiencing symptoms like dizziness and headaches. Then, her care team informed her of a terrifying discovery: a large tumor in her chest, wrapped around vital blood vessels near her spine and neck.
“I wasn’t really having symptoms from feeling the tumor,” Ward said. “I was having symptoms for another medical thing I have going on, which was diagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS). I had an MRI done as part of my MS diagnosis, and that’s where they found the tumor.”
The diagnosis came as a shock. Not only was Ward grappling with MS, but she now faced a complex and potentially dangerous mass.
Dr. Robert Allman, a cardiothoracic surgeon at ECU Health and assistant professor of thoracic and foregut surgery at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU, was called in to evaluate the case. According to Dr. Allman, the tumor was a large mediastinal mass that extended into her neck and was wrapped around her subclavian artery. These tumors are rare and affect less than one percent of the population.
“Traditionally, removing something like that would require a very invasive surgery like splitting the breastbone, maybe even breaking the clavicle,” said Dr. Allman.
However, thanks to ECU Health’s advanced robotic surgery program, Dr. Allman was able to perform the procedure using minimally invasive robotic surgery.
“Harmony essentially just had to have four small incisions through her rib spaces because of the minimally invasive approach,” Dr. Allman said. “She was able to leave the hospital in two days. The pain benefit is enormous, and the recovery time and infection risks are significantly reduced.”
The timing could not have been more critical. Ward was just a month away from her high school graduation – a milestone she feared she might miss.
“I was very worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to make it to graduation,” she said. “But they said I would be healed in time. I actually got my stitches removed the day of my graduation so I could put on my dress and everything. It was a very emotional time.”
Dr. Allman remembers Ward not just for her medical case, but for her character.
“She’s very kind, very smart, very hardworking,” he said. “She really put her trust in us. We took our time to make sure she understood everything, and I’m just really happy we were able to help her this way. It allows her to pursue what she wants to do now.”
For Ward, the experience was both terrifying and transformative.
“This was the first time I’ve ever been in a hospital or had any surgeries, so it was very scary,” she said. “All of my medical problems hit me at once. I was going through the MS diagnosis and the tumor at the same time. I was just very worried, but Dr. Allman and his nurses, his team and my neurologist dealing with my MS were all very helpful and supportive and very calming.”
As Ward embarks on her journey toward one day becoming the nurse she’s always dreamed of, it is the perspective she gained as a patient that will guide her.
“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse to be able to help and take care of people,” said Ward. “This experience gave me a new perspective I can bring with me.”
Greenville, N.C – ECU Health’s East Carolina Heart Institute (ECHI) has earned four 3-star ratings, the highest rating possible, from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for excellence in adult cardiac surgery. Based on outcomes from January 2022 through December 2024, these ratings place ECU Health among the leading cardiac surgery programs in the U.S. and Canada.
The STS star rating system is widely considered one of the most reliable tools for evaluating cardiothoracic surgical outcomes. Ratings are determined from the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), which assesses clinical outcomes, risk-adjusted performance, and adherence to evidence-based care standards.
Each recognition is based on voluntarily submitted data to the STS National Database, established in 1989 to improve patient safety and surgical outcomes. The database now includes more than 10 million surgical records from over 6,000 physicians and captures over 95% of adult cardiac surgeries performed in the U.S.
“Achieving top-tier ratings across multiple procedure categories speaks not only to the expertise of our team members but also to our ability to bring high-quality cardiac care to the 1.4 million people who call eastern North Carolina home,” said Dr. Michael Bates, professor and chief for the division of cardiac surgery at ECU Health and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. “These exceptional results support the trust our patients place in us and are a reflection of our commitment to earning that trust every case, every day.”
The 3-star ratings are in the following categories:
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a procedure designed to improve blood flow to the heart by bypassing blocked arteries. ECU Health ranks in the top 20 percent of programs nationwide in this category. This marks the fifth consecutive year ECU Health has earned the 3-star rating, reflecting exceptional performance dating back to 2017. Historically, only 21 percent of participants achieve this top-tier rating. ECU Health performs an average of 500 CABGs per year.
Aortic Valve Replacement + CABG
Combining aortic valve replacement (AVR) with CABG involves treating both valve disease and coronary artery blockages in a single operation. This dual procedure is highly complex and requires extensive expertise. ECU Health’s program is recognized in the top 7 percent of centers nationwide for this category, a distinction typically earned by just 5 percent of participating institutions. The rating highlights the team’s precision, coordination, and skill in managing multifaceted cardiac cases. ECU Health performs about 40 Aortic Valve Replacement + CABG per year.
Mitral Valve Repair or Replacement (MVRR)
ECU Health earned its first 3-star rating for mitral valve repair or replacement, moving up from a previous 2-star designation. This improvement underscores significant advancements in surgical outcomes and patient care. ECU Health performs an average of 60 MVRRs per year. Only 11 percent of programs nationwide receive 3 stars in this category, making this achievement particularly notable.
Multiprocedural Composite Score
The STS introduced a new multiprocedural composite score this year evaluating outcomes across a range of cardiac surgeries, including CABG, AVR, MVRR and various combinations. ECU Health earned a 3-star rating in this category as well, placing it in the top 28 percent of participating programs. The rating reflects institutional excellence, consistency and a commitment to delivering high-quality care across a broad surgical spectrum.
ECHI is dedicated to advancing cardiovascular health through education, research, treatment, and prevention. ECHI brings together expert physicians and professional staff to deliver comprehensive, high-quality care for both adults and children. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology and techniques, ECHI addresses a wide spectrum of cardiovascular conditions from common risk factors to rare and complex diseases. Services span prevention, diagnosis and surgical interventions, followed by rehabilitation and patient education. By integrating basic science, clinical research, and hands-on medical practice, ECHI ensures each patient receives the most advanced and personalized treatment available.
“These recognitions affirm ECU Health’s commitment to creating a national model for academic rural health care – one that brings world-class, highly-specialized services directly to the communities that need them most,” said Dr. Michael Waldrum, CEO of ECU Health and dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. “Eastern North Carolina faces high rates of chronic heart disease, and our cardiac surgery program exemplifies how advanced care can be delivered close to home. We are proud to lead the way in transforming rural health through innovation and collaboration.”