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Gerry: I saw Dr. Reede at church one morning. He said it's about time we check your heart and see how things are going. So I went to Summa, and I had a blockage, and my aortic valve needed to be replaced, and Dr. Dunn did a TAVR procedure on me. I was back to normal the next day. And I tell you, the place is super, they did a super job of taking care of me, getting me out there the next day back to normal, and the people there treated me first class. I'm sure the good Lord had a lot to do with that too.

You know I was a football coach for five years at Notre Dame. I was at Akron U for nine years. I tell coaches wins on the field keep your job, but the wins of the hearts of the young people you're coaching are the real wins in life, and the heart was a real win. The TAVR procedure was a win for me, and I love wins. Yeah, I love wins.

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Karlise: I'm a professional singer, but high blood pressure, kidney disease, anemia, these problems were keeping me from what I love to do. Thank goodness I found Dr. Isada at Summa Health.

Dr Isada is a real investigator. She left no stone unturned in finding out what the problem was. Thanks to her care, I went from eight different blood pressure medications down to just three. And now with my blood pressure under control, I can sing anywhere, anytime.

My singing is my ministry. That is how I reach out and give back. Now that Dr. Isada helped heal my heart, I can continue to touch other hearts through my singing.

My stage name is "Star," and now that my health is under control, I feel like a star, thanks to Dr. Isada.

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George: I went running on the Brecksville Reservation Towpath, and on my return leg, I dropped dead on the trail. EMS transported me to Summa Health System Akron. Dr. Dunn and his team discovered that I had a 98% blockage in my widowmaker, and put a stent in to open it up.

Eventhough my heart was beating again, the rest of my body was unresponsive. They decided to put me into an induced coma to make sure that I didn't end up with brain damage. A week after that, I'm home, normal life.

I'm a newlywed, and one of our goals, my new bride and I is to have our honeymoon in Paris which was put off because of the incident, and now we're going to go, thanks to Dr. Dunn and his team.

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Kelly: I'd been having heartburn for two weeks, and I woke up one Sunday, and it was really bad, and it wouldn't go away. And I called my friend to take me to the Summa Green Emergency Room. I remember pulling into the parking lot. Apparently that's when I had a heart attack was in my friend's car. From there they rushed me to Summa Akron where I met Dr. Silver and his team. My widowmaker was 100% blocked, and they put a stent in to free the blockage.

I owe that team my life. They truely are angels. They saved my life. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them.

I have to live for my son and for my grandson, they complete my life. And Dr. Silver gave me that back.

My message for heart health for women would be if something is going on and it doesn't feel right, please get it checked out. It could just save your life.

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Tony: Our care experience began when Sandy had a cardiac arrest. We flew by helicopter to Akron City.

Sandy: I was hospitalized four months, and the care was very good.

Tony: To see people so dedicated when it was so dire. Lots of hugs, from physicians as well. When a physician comes in and they refer to you by name, or a nurse comes in and holds your hand when she's giving you a medication. You feel as though you're the only patient they take care of. People have said that we are the recipients of a miracle. The miracle is the type of people that could take care of someone critically ill like this, and make sure that she could get well.

Sandy: My gratitude is that I walked away alive.

Tony: That's the miracle.

Sandy: Yes, they did save my life.

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Crystal: I had just given birth to my son at Summa, and two weeks later I was back at Summa because I had just collapsed with a heart attack. I thought well this is it, you know. Like I'm not making it out of this one.

I trusted that they would give me the care that I needed. And Dr. Dunn explained everything, and not just to me. He explained everything to my husband. It was almost like he was their patient too.

All of the nurses called me "rock star." Everybody was like cheering me on as I was going for my walk around the floor. The caregivers really are the true rock stars, aren't they?

The last visit with Dr. Espinal was kind of bittersweet because he's fantastic. As much as I'm glad that I don't have to see him, I'm sad that I don't get to see him. How do you repay someone, who's given you the ability to come home to your family everyday?

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Tom: I have experienced and suffered through having atrial fibrillation for more than thirty years. Dr. Taigen studied it and said it's about time we put a pacemaker in.

The coordination between Dr. Taigen's staff, the whole cardiology group, and the hospital is incredible. You totally feel like I'm at the right hospital. The nursing staff, their concern for your well-being, is paramount to them. It wasn't just my effervescent personality. They treat everybody like that.

There's indeed stress in going to the hospital, but once you get there after a day or two you really don't want to leave. And I have more energy. I'm more alert. I have Dr. Taigen to thank for that.

The best part of having a pacemaker is I'm under strict orders from Dr. Taigen not to cut the lawn anymore. I can certainly deal with these restrictions. There's no question about it. I have to stop laughing.

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Roman: I'm 26 years old. I do push ups everyday. I workout everyday. I started to get a shortness or breath, chest pains. I feel like my heart is being squeezed as tight as possible. I went in to get a checkup and they noticed there was a hole in it. I was born with a tiny hole in my heart that as I grew it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. This is serious. I could have just dropped dead.

Dr. Dunn told me if I wouldn't have caught it, I could be going any minute now, basically what he was telling me so. It made me more comfortable with going through what I was going through. I just want to thank him somehow. Dr. Dunn, I like him.

Summa I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, I'll say they was a 20. It was the best care. You see, I just want to think about it, it puts a smile on my face. I feel special. I feel like I own the hospital. I feel like I was a superstar. You see that was my first time being through anything like that first off.

Now that they fixed it, I have a lot more energy. And maybe I wouldn't have been here today.

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Dennis: I'm a third generation farmer, and I started having shortness of breath, so I went to Summa to be checked out. I turns out I had a leaking heart valve, and they suggested a TAVR procedure to fix it.

Sharon: Dr. Dunn just helped explain the procedure. We felt at ease with him. Dennis had the surgery done about noon time. A couple hours later, he was done, he was laughing and smiling. Right after the procedure, it was like instant, he said he could breathe better.

Dennis: I tried to talk to Dr. Dunn into releasing me the same day, but he made me stay over the night. Compared to open heart surgery, this procedure was like a miracle.

Sharon: The TAVR procedure actually helped Dennis get back to work within a week's time.

Dennis: My heart is back to pumping better than ever.

Sharon: Dennis' mom lived to be 105, so I'm expecting Dennis to be around a lot longer thanks to all the doctors at Summa hospital.

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Dale: Not in a million years did I think something like this would happen to me. I had laid down to go to bed, and I could not breathe. I thought I was going to die. I was eventually taken to Summa Akron, and through Dr. Smith and his team, he was able to shock my heart back into normal rhythm, and then eventually I went to cardio rehab, and they basically saved my life also.

The therapists there, Patty, Kathy, Kirsten, and Joy, motivated me so much. They are the reason why I'm as healthy as I am now.

During cardio rehab, my heart function went from nineteen percent all the way to fifty-five percent, which is absolutely normal.

Through the efforts of Summa Akron and the cardio rehab team, it's oh my gosh, just a completely different lifestyle. I'm glad to be around for my wife during our retirement years. I bought myself a motorcycle for retirement, and I'm finally able to ride it again. Plus I can actually carry the laundry basket up from the basement for my wife.

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Tom: I was having trouble breathing and could barely walk. I went to Summa for heart catheterization. The heart valve was not working right, and there was another artery that was one hundred percent blocked.

Dr. Bittenbender and Dunn said that instead of open-heart surgery, I was a candidate for this TAVR valve procedure. Soon as they put that heart valve in, my heart function improved dramatically right there on the operating table.

I think even the nurses were amazing as I was up walking around. You couldn't believe it. Dr. Dunn looks so young I had to ask him if he was a doctor or not. That whole ICU was just fantastic.

The TAVR procedure is a miracle. Right in our backyard here, just you can't beat it. Travel anywhere in the country you won't get better care.

Within a couple of weeks I was back to one hundred percent. In fact efficient, back to working on cars, working on houses, doing what ever I want. It's a miracle.

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Chuck: I was having so much pain in my legs I could not mow my lawn. Dr. Dunn at Summa hospital informed me that I needed to have surgery to improve the circulation in my legs. Dr. Dunn was so good I asked for some of his calling cards so I could pass them out.

After vascular surgery I had to have open heart surgery to have a valve replaced. Dr. Dunn and Dr. Baranek are two of the best doctors in the doctor business. And to have my health restored back to where I was say thirty years ago is really great.

I have a '57 Chevy, bright yellow, and I'm helping to put a Car-Cruise on this summer. I'm back to walking two miles a day, mowing my own lawn, and no one mows the lawn like I can.

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Jim: I was the poster child for what not to do. I smoked, I didn't eat right, and I didn't exercise. I started getting chest pains, numbness, blurred vision. And out of the blue, I experienced a heart attack. And I was taken by ambulance to Summa Health. Within minutes they took me to the cath lab and installed three stents.

My cardiologist definitely saved my life that day, and I'm so grateful for the entire team. Dr. Bittenbender has been great in keeping me on a heart-healthy lifestyle, and I also look at him as a great friend.

Thanks to the cardiovascular rehab program at Summa Health, I quit smoking, I started a good diet, and I even built a gym in my basement. Today life is great. I'm spending a lot more time with my family, and I have a lot to live for.

My advice to other men would be to recognize signs of a heart attack and get out there and exercise every day. It's not going to hurt you.