Melody Tippett Smith knows the toll cardiovascular disease can take on a family. Her husband, Jerry, initially dismissed his breathlessness as lingering effects of a respiratory virus, but it soon revealed a deeper health challenge for him and their family.
At 54, Jerry was admitted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center after tests at his local hospital and MedStar Montgomery Medical Center. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and later received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to monitor his heart.
Four months later, during a stress test ordered by his nurse practitioner, Cindy Bither, Jerry’s ICD was activated five times. He was rushed to the emergency department, where he soon went into liver failure due to the lack of blood supply from the heart.
Jerry’s care team eventually recommended a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a surgically implanted pump to assist his heart, as a means to keep him stable before receiving a heart transplant. Twenty-five months later, he had a new heart.
Melody spent up to 14 hours a day at the hospital, supported by the compassionate nurses, technicians, and physicians who cared for them. To show gratitude, Melody brought candy for the staff, while Jerry often offered to order take-out meals for his entire care team.
Tragically, in 2013, their son died from sudden cardiac arrest. “Jerry was able to be there when we buried our son,” Melody said. Two months later, Jerry passed away from an unrelated brain bleed. Even after his death, his care team continued to offer unwavering comfort and kindness to his grieving family.
“I’m thankful for everything. Even though I lost my husband, I had an extra three years with him that I wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for his diagnosis, the LVAD, the heart transplant, and the care he received,” Melody shared. “The biggest thing for me was that his team was always there. Cindy was there the day he died. They were my support system, too. We became like a family at the hospital.”
Now, Janice Tippett, Jerry’s sister, is a cardiovascular patient at MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute. “When I met with Dr. Mark Hofmeyer for my own care, he sat with me for over an hour,” she shared. “He could see the fear in my eyes. There is a lot that can be unsettling about cardiovascular health. He could see the fear coming from the history of cardiovascular issues in my family. He looked at me and said, ‘You have PTSD.’ I thanked him–I didn’t think anyone understood my anxiety like that.”
With the knowledge of heart health challenges for Jerry, his son, and his sister Janice, the team at MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute started to consider the larger picture: genetic patterns throughout a family tree, not just individual cases of heart failure. “I soon learned that I had a [congenital heart condition], along with other cardiovascular complications. So now, we’re looking to help MedStar Health with genetic research,” Janice explained.
With additional family members participating, MedStar Health teams are able to perform in-depth analyses of the family’s DNA and garner more information, not just for the Tippett family, but for generations of patients to come.
“I’ve never seen more knowledge and care–especially when we realized these were health issues impacting the whole family,” Janice said. “The team had the care and the know-how to dig deeper to consider what we don’t see and ask if there was something we’ve been missing.”