Turning around a scary surprise

Jason Walker

Adamant about staying healthy and eating right, Jason Walker taught yoga two nights a week, practiced yoga and lifted weights five or six days a week, and played golf regularly.

His active lifestyle was no surprise. Jason grew up working out and playing sports, including baseball through college. After all, he was determined to prevent the heart disease that had claimed his father’s life when Jason was just 21 years old.

But here’s what was a surprise: On his 42nd birthday, Jason started to feel ill. He became so sick that he couldn’t eat or sleep without severe discomfort. Any sort activity was out of the question.

Jason later was diagnosed with a prolapsed mitral valve, which is often seen in weight lifters. At the time of his diagnosis, he was so severely ill that doctors weren’t sure if he was going to live. Ultimately, Jason was stabilized and prepared for minimally invasive heart surgery, with Scottdale Healthcare cardiac surgeon Michael Caskey, MD repairing Jason’s mitral value at the request of Jason's cardiologist.

While this was an understandably frightening time for Jason and his family, they were comforted knowing that Jason was being cared for by an expert surgeon and other medical staff.

While Jason was concerned about being able to continue his active lifestyle after surgery, he carefully followed doctors’ orders and was walking one to two miles a day within the second week of returning home and working out within three weeks of heart surgery.

Today, Jason does everything he did prior to his surgery. He enjoys an extremely healthy, active lifestyle with virtually no activity restrictions. He and his family are grateful to Dr. Caskey and the rest of his medical team for doing such an amazing job!

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