Stuart Kovensky’s Story
Travel is part of the job in the investment management business, and Stuart Kovensky of New York was at the tail end of a week-long trip across Canada when he landed in BC. It was mere days after the 2010 Winter Games, and Kovensky was at a client’s house in White Rock when the 42-year-old was jolted by a pain like nothing he had ever felt before. He would soon end up at Royal Columbian, facing emergency cardiac surgery to save his life.
Ty Vongnakhone’s story
When the back pain started, 31-year old Ty Vongnakhone first tried ointment and then a massage. Still, the pain was getting worse, so the Burnaby resident went to his local hospital. There, a stunning diagnosis – an extensive type B aortic dissection. Soon, he was rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital, where he would spend the next five weeks under the care of a medical team that spanned multiple departments.
Don Wrigley’s Story
Don Wrigley grew concerned when he started suffering from chest pains and shortness of breath whenever he tended to his garden or even walked up his driveway. Testing confirmed the cause: severe aortic stenosis, along with significant coronary artery disease. The Burnaby resident would need a new heart valve. At almost 90 years old, the question became whether open heart surgery was his only option.
Scott McGillivray’s Story
It was a beautiful, unseasonably hot spring day in the Lower Mainland, the start of what turned out to be the longest warm spell of 2009. For Scott McGillivray, it was a perfect day to cruise home from work on his one-year-old Victory Jackpot motorcycle. He was in Cloverdale, close to his destination, when a truck swerved into him. The accident left Scott with a number of injuries, including several shattered ribs and a broken shoulder blade. But it was a tear in the body’s main artery that put his life most in danger.