WESTON, Fla. – It’s clear that being overweight or obese increases the risk of heart attack and stroke but losing the weight is the tough part for many.
Thirty-two year old Joe Guzman has always been heavy his whole life, eventually hitting 300 lbs., a weight that took a toll on his heart.
“There was a lot of chest pain, little hits, I would be walking and I felt a stab or something like that,” Guzman said.
The damage was so bad he ultimately went into heart failure but because Guzman was morbidly obese he couldn’t be listed for a heart transplant.
Conversely, the condition of his heart made bariatric surgery extremely risky.
“At this time it wasn’t something I could take for granted it was a matter of life and death. If I didn’t lose the weight I wouldn’t get the transplant,” Guzman said.
“To tell a patient to lose 50 pounds is like telling me to grow five inches, they’re not going to lose the weight, they’re never going to get a heart and unfortunately they will die from heart failure,” said Dr. Raul Rosenthal, a bariatric surgeon with Cleveland Clinic Weston.
Rosenthal came up with an innovative approach: supporting Guzman’s heart with an artificial pump during the procedure.
“And for the first time in the history of cardio thoracic and bariatric surgery we implemented to combine bariatric surgery as a step approach so the patient could lose the weight, all the medical problems diminished or went into remission, he became a good candidate to receive a donor heart and a better candidate to undergo a heart transplant,” Rosenthal said.
Following the cardiac assisted bariatric surgery Guzman rapidly lost 100 pounds and qualified for a heart transplant after a long and difficult journey.
Four months later he received that life-saving match after a long and difficult journey.
“I feel like everything happens, the way it came to be, I think everything.”