Lana's LVAD allows her to get back to living her life

She was fighting for her life in the hospital during a time of year when others are often focused on cookies and holiday presents.

So, she considers it a remarkable gift that this holiday season, she has a mechanical device that’s performing the function of her heart for her. “Now I have the energy to do all the things I couldn’t do back then,” she said.

This past July, Lana received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. An LVAD is a surgically implanted, mechanical pump that helps the heart pump blood to the body.

Her problems started in mid-December 2023, when she was experiencing excruciating back pain. She found no relief at a chiropractor’s office, so she went to the local emergency room in Whitewater, Wisconsin—and learned she was having a heart attack. Her doctors airlifted her immediately to University Hospital.

“At first, I was petrified because I watched my dad die from an enlarged heart,” she said. “He was only 57.”

As soon as Lana arrived in Madison, doctors brought her into the catheterization lab, where they placed three stents to open her clogged arteries. She returned home in three days, but just a few days later, she woke up in pain again. This time, her husband brought her straight to the hospital, where she found out she was experiencing her second heart attack.

Lana’s recovery from this second heart event was much more difficult, and right before Christmas, she suffered a stroke in her hospital bed. “I still had all my functions, but I couldn’t talk,” she said. “I have an 8-year-old daughter, and the look in her eyes when she saw me—I never want to see that look again.”

She experienced yet another stroke before she was discharged on Jan. 10—a shadow of her former self. “I was really diminished,” she said. “It was a chore for me to even get off the couch.”

In June 2024, Lana returned to the hospital because she was having major water retention issues. Doctors told her she had heart failure and would not survive without a heart transplant. But there was another option: They could install an LVAD so that she could return home and resume a semi-normal life.

“I was in the hospital for probably five and a half weeks between June and July,” she said. “I was sitting in the hospital thinking, I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I’ve got to get out of here. I want to be at home with my own family. If it meant that I needed the LVAD to do it, then I was going to do it.”

During the months since Lana received her LVAD, she has been able to lead a relatively normal life—including going to the Wisconsin State Fair just two weeks after she left the hospital.

In the meantime, she’s doing well at home. “I think with the LVAD, I have more energy than I did before the heart attacks,” she said. “And I really appreciate all the doctors, nurses and other staff that have been caring for me throughout this process. They were just absolutely amazing!”