CityView Magazine

38 | April 2020 'Out the next day and breathing fine' After TAVR procedure, heart patient hopes to return to an active lifestyle BY KIM HASTY W hen Ray Hardwick underwent surgery to remove a cancerous portion of his lung at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in 2014, he regretted missing the chance to thank his surgeon, Dr. Robert Maughan. He had a second chance in December when Maughan was part of the team that performed a procedure on Hardwick known as TAVR, or transaortic valve replacement. "Best surgeon in town," Hardwick said. "is time, I saw him, and I said, 'Hey, thanks for both times.' " Hardwick said he's also grateful that the procedure, far less invasive than open-heart surgery, is now being performed at Cape Fear Valley, giving him the hope of returning to the active lifestyle he loves. "I've been active all my life," Hardwick, 64, said. "I don't sit around more than I have to." e medical center recently celebrated a year of successfully performing the procedure on nearly 30 patients who previously would have been faced with having to travel an hour or more to have it done. "We've had really great results," said Maughan, a cardiothoracic surgeon who plays a key role on a team headed by interventional cardiologists Dr. or Klang and Dr. Amol Baheker. "e initial recovery is so much better." Hardwick seemed a prime candidate for the procedure. e Army had taken him to Frankfurt, Germany in 1972. He wound up leaving the Army aer four years, but stayed in Germany for the next 30, including a 25-year career at DuPont. Cape Fear Valley Medical Center recently celebrated a year of successfully performing transaortic valve replacement on nearly 30 patients who previously would have been faced with having to travel an hour or more to have it done. F E A T U R E

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