CityView Magazine

40 | April 2020 "I met her the second day I was there," he said, nodding to wife Ingrid. "We met at a disco." e two married in 1976 and spent most of their lives dancing, skiing and scuba diving. ey eventually returned to the United States to move into a home they'd built themselves on a tract of family land. Ray Hardwick worked as operations manager for Harold Brewington at Carpet One and received his general contractor's license. "I like to feel like I'm accomplishing something," he said. But the Hardwicks' active lifestyle took a hit when a chest X-ray in 2012 revealed Ray had cancer. He began undergoing chemotherapy and radiation that, while draining him of energy, shrunk the cancer enough for Maughan to remove it. Amol Bahekar Robert Maughan Thor Klang TAVR is done by inserting a collapsible valve through a small incision in the groin and up into the heart. Once positioned exactly – a determination made with powerful scanning equipment – physicians inflate the valve and anchor it into place. When it starts working, they remove the flexible catheter tube used to carry the valve and close the incision. Robert Maughan, a cardiothoracic surgeon who plays a key role on a team headed by interventional cardiologists Thor Klang and Amol Baheker, reports really great results with TAVR. at proved to be only part of his ordeal. "From 2014 to 2018, I was trying to get my strength back," he said. "I was breathing heavily and gradually got worse. I got to where I could hardly breathe at all." Tests revealed he was suffering from aortic valve stenosis, a serious disease that causes a heart valve to narrow and malfunction. People with aortic stenosis may feel faint, weak and lethargic and may struggle for breath. e disease can also lead to heart failure. But open-heart surgery, the standard method for replacing heart valves, is a major invasive operation, requiring patients to stay several days in the hospital and then weeks more of recovery. It can be highly risky for people who are elderly or otherwise frail. In Hardwick's case, radiation had weakened his organs. TAVR, on the other hand, is done by inserting a collapsible valve through a small incision in the groin and up into the heart. Once positioned exactly – a determination made with powerful scanning equipment – physicians inflate the valve and anchor it into place. When it starts working, they remove the flexible catheter tube used to carry the valve and close the incision. e procedure lasts an hour or two. "e planning done before the operation takes longer than the procedure," Maughan said. "It's not done by just one cardiologist or one surgeon. It's a real team approach." Hardwick is breathing much easier these days, though he still requires the use of a portable defibrillator and is scheduled to have one implanted sometime in the next few months. "I felt very lucky that they invented this procedure," he said. "And I'm grateful that I was lucky enough to get it." Hardwick feels lucky that he was able to get the TAVR procedure.

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