Bina's post:
Some very sad news to share, Johnny Stephens has passed away.
"The lovely and talented" Johnny was a member of vr.org since 2002
and shared and endured many health issues along with his sense of humour
and love of life.
Johnny had double valve replacements in April 2002, followed by a
pacemaker implant in 2005. Diabetes got hold of him, and some permanent
heart damage from previous radiation treatments proved to be difficult to overcome.
Johnny was in the process of having an artificial heart implanted when he passed
away shortly thereafter.
He will be missed by many who remember his presence on our VR forum.
This is a post written by Johnny's wife on another cardiac forum :
I am so sorry to tell you that Johnny did not survive the surgery. He
never woke up, because they were going to take 24 hours to do the close
the chest to ensure there were no problems with bleeding, so he stayed
under anesthesia. I am so sorry to tell you that he passed away Friday
morning 1/27/12.
I am still in shock. The surgeon was so confident, and although it was
high risk, I really expected he would make it. I worked so hard to get
this chance for him. The choices were the total artificial heart, which
he could get right away and start healing his kidneys and liver with no
wait for a heart, or the "maybes" that Mayo offered him (I can't
remember if I explained this), or to exit the hospital to hospice and
dialysis.
He chose the total artificial heart. We knew it was high risk. It was
his best chance. He wanted to be remembered as the guy went for it. He
wanted to live, for us.
Some very sad news to share, Johnny Stephens has passed away.
"The lovely and talented" Johnny was a member of vr.org since 2002
and shared and endured many health issues along with his sense of humour
and love of life.
Johnny had double valve replacements in April 2002, followed by a
pacemaker implant in 2005. Diabetes got hold of him, and some permanent
heart damage from previous radiation treatments proved to be difficult to overcome.
Johnny was in the process of having an artificial heart implanted when he passed
away shortly thereafter.
He will be missed by many who remember his presence on our VR forum.
This is a post written by Johnny's wife on another cardiac forum :
I am so sorry to tell you that Johnny did not survive the surgery. He
never woke up, because they were going to take 24 hours to do the close
the chest to ensure there were no problems with bleeding, so he stayed
under anesthesia. I am so sorry to tell you that he passed away Friday
morning 1/27/12.
I am still in shock. The surgeon was so confident, and although it was
high risk, I really expected he would make it. I worked so hard to get
this chance for him. The choices were the total artificial heart, which
he could get right away and start healing his kidneys and liver with no
wait for a heart, or the "maybes" that Mayo offered him (I can't
remember if I explained this), or to exit the hospital to hospice and
dialysis.
He chose the total artificial heart. We knew it was high risk. It was
his best chance. He wanted to be remembered as the guy went for it. He
wanted to live, for us.
