Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/976458
PATRONS | Spring 2018 19 CLINICAL SPOTLIGHT Top: Terry Savolt, Jessie Savolt, Mark Lurie, MD, and Roxanna Balter, NP, program coordinator, Lundquist Lurie Cardiovascular Ins tute celebrate Jessie's victory over heart failure at the Super Bowl 5K/10K in Redondo Beach. Le : Members of Torrance Memorial's Heart Failure Team: Rose Pavlick, RN, cardiology, Danielle Cosgrove, RN, pallia ve care, Roxanna Balter, NP, cardiology, Debbie Carlton, RN, cardiac rehabilita on, Mark Lurie, MD, maedical director, Lundquist Lurie Cardiovascular Ins tute. A top-notch academic medical center with the largest heart transplant program in the United States, Cedars-Sinai was uniquely prepared to care for Savolt. And the close working relationship between the Torrance Memorial and Cedars- Sinai specialists facilitated the transfer of her care to the Smidt Heart Institute transplant program. e transition was seamless and quick, and the Torrance team was in touch the whole time. Savolt was put on the transplant list at the Smidt Heart Institute on August 19, 2015 and received her call just three weeks later on September 5. Her reaction was total shock. "I was running around the house not knowing what to do first. After waiting for so long, I couldn't believe this was actually happening," she says. e surgery went extremely well—but her story doesn't stop there. She went in to cardiac arrest twice while at Cedars-Sinai, and the second time, the surgeons performed an open-heart procedure right in her room to stabilize her before they brought her to the operating room. "eir goal was to save the heart, and they absolutely did. at heart is doing just great, thank you very much," says the grateful patient. Savolt can't say enough about the Smidt Heart Institute team. ey saved her life—several times—and without their expertise and experience she would not have made it through the transplant and her subsequent complications. She is also extremely thankful to Dr. Lurie and his team at Torrance Memorial. Without them she probably would not have gone to the Smidt Heart Institute for her transplant care. In 2016, Savolt and her husband renewed their wedding vows in Hawaii. She is now a grandmother for the second time. She walks her three dogs, spends time with her family and just completed a Super Bowl 5K. Savolt also went back to Smidt last week for her six-month checkup. Her heart is perfect and she was able to see all of her doctors again. "ey always stop by to say hello. ere is a lot of hugging. I feel really, really lucky," she says. Jessie Savolt and her husband Terry renew their vows on a beach in Hawaii in celebra on of Jessie's new heart.