Jeanette Leach, 92, spent Friday afternoon taking in the sights of Chicago from her living room at the Brandon Wood Retirement Center in Morton, Illinois. On her TV, the Chicago Cubs were making their way through the Windy City for their World Series parade and rally.
“Anthony Rizzo. He’s my favorite. I’ve always said if one of my granddaughters could date a Cub, I would want it to be him,” said Leach.
Leach is a life-long Cubs fan with a new lease on life. In late October she received a new aortic heart valve through Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR, at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. It’s a procedure that wouldn’t have been an option for her a decade ago; because of her age, Leach is considered a high-risk surgical candidate.
TAVR is approved for high- and intermediate-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis (a narrowing of the aortic valve opening). The minimally invasive procedure can be performed while the heart continues to beat and requires only a small incision. A replacement valve is positioned in the heart using a catheter and then expanded using a balloon.
Dr. Sudhir Mungee is an Interventional Cardiologist with OSF HealthCare Cardiovascular Institute, and is a leader of the TAVR team. He said the Cubs’ dramatic World Series win made him think of Leach immediately.
“Twenty minutes after receiving TAVR, she was awake and talking,” said Dr. Mungee. “I asked her if she had any plans for that night and she told me she was watching the Cubs.”
The Cubs were a common theme between the two leading up to the TAVR procedure.
“I told Dr. Mungee not to worry about me. I wasn’t going to die without seeing the Cubs win the World Series. Now I plan on seeing them repeat,” said Leach.
To learn more about TAVR, or to see if you are a TAVR candidate, call 800-352-4410 in Peoria or 815-847-5732 in Rockford.
Last Updated: July 29, 2019