Two weeks ago, Jeremy Woodward visited Tufts Medical Center in Boston with his wife and their three daughters. Ten years earlier, on Aug. 4, 2007, Woodward was at that same hospital not knowing if he was ever going to leave.
“The last time my wife, Brooke, and I walked into this hospital, it was under very different circumstances. It was basically life or death,” said Woodward, who lives in Concord. “To be able to come back here ten years to the day, with my beautiful family, is pretty special.”
Woodward, who was 28 at the time, was in class four heart failure and nearly died. His heart failure developed after an aortic tissue valve that he had replaced in 2000 stopped working, which prevented his heart from effectively pumping blood. The best-case scenario, Woodward feared, would be that he would require a heart transplant.
When Woodward walked into the CardioVascular Center at Tufts earlier this month, one of the first people he saw was Noreen A. Dolan, NP-C, who was one of the head nurses who took care of him during his time in the hospital.
“Jeremy was one of the sickest patients I cared for in my career. I thought his chances of recovery were slim to none,” said Dolan. “Although we would be able to fix his heart valves, we thought he would always be limited due to his major heart condition. Despite all this, Jeremy remained positive, and stated he would be back better than ever, but I was not optimistic.”
“Walking in and seeing Noreen after everything that happened was an amazing moment,” said Woodward.
The Woodwards introduced Dolan to their three daughters Elliana, 8, Bryn, 5, and four-month-old Isla. They also updated Dolan on the work Woodward has been doing since his surgery to raise awareness and funds for the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.