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Alberto Gomez is the owner of a Washington, D.C.,-based construction company who has always enjoyed good health, and who has rarely spent much time with doctors aside from yearly physical examinations.
However, noticeable fatigue and discomfort led him to seek care at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. At the age of 66, Alberto was diagnosed with advanced heart failure. He was given the sobering news that his heart was functioning at an estimated 15%, and that he would need a heart transplant in order to survive.
“It was a very sobering experience to come from not having seen doctors in a long time to seeing them every day, to every 5 minutes, to every 15 minutes,” shares Alberto.
A Second Chance
After meeting with Dr. Ezequiel Molina, a cardiac surgeon at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Alberto learned that he was a candidate for a new technology called Left Ventricular Assist Device or LVAD, a device that is implanted into the chest that supports the pumping function of the heart. This would be his lifeline until he was able to receive a heart transplant.
After receiving the LVAD, Mr. Gomez suffered complications, such as strokes, that left him with limited movement and speech impairments. Throughout this process, he received a lot of therapy and encouragement from his team at MedStar, “and the smiles,” says Alberto. “I tell a lot of jokes so I can laugh when people laugh, and I can enjoy them when they enjoy them.”
Alberto’s willingness to work in conjunction with the doctors, as well as the holistic approach to care that Alberto received from the team at MedStar, made a huge impact on his recovery process. He shares that, “the support one receives from the professional staff, the administrative staff, the nurses, and everyone around, they create the environment for recovering much faster than it would normally take.”
A New Heart
On November 9, 2014, Alberto received a call from Jessica Rice, a heart transplant coordinator at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, letting him know that a matching heart had been found.
On December 10, 2014, the same influential team at the Hospital Center that worked with Alberto to diagnose and treat his advanced heart failure with the LVAD device, helped implant his new heart. Continuing his care with the same team was paramount in his process. “They knew what was inside, they knew what they had to take out, and now they knew how they were going to transplant the new organ in,” says Alberto. “My doctors were not just my doctors. They were my friends, they became part of the family, they were my confidence.”
Back To The Business Of Life
Alberto is still growing accustomed to life with his new heart. His motto is, “it’s not a fast race, it’s a race of endurance. It’s not how fast I go, it’s how secure I get there.” He is much more careful with how he cares for his body, he is more aware of the movements he makes and is careful not to put too much strain on his muscles until he recovers his full strength.
Now, Alberto is back to running his construction business, Prince Construction, with a keener outlook on life.
Alberto wakes up each day with gratitude, “you appreciate now what used to be somebody else’s heart, and it’s a heart that you take care of and every day the first thing you do is thank God for being alive and pray for the donor and the family who were generous enough to allow their sibling to provide a heart for you to keep living.”
He wants others experiencing a weakened heart or coping with advanced heart failure to know that, “there is hope that there are ways to overcome it, and with faith and determination and with professional knowledge of the doctors you are in great shape to recover."
