Heart team helps patient with 5 kids have happier holidays

“Oh, man.” Gerard Green looks at the pile of presents in the back of his car, beautifully wrapped by the MUSC Health heart team for his five children.

“It just brought tears to my eyes,” he says later of seeing the generosity of the doctors, nurses and others who got to know him while he recovered from having a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, implanted.

Nurse practitioner Dawn Pasquarello says everyone wanted to get involved when they heard the story of the Ridgeland, South Carolina, man and his family. Green has had heart problems since he was a teenager and has been in and out of the hospital. He stayed at MUSC Health for more than two months this fall, getting the LVAD implanted and recovering.

“He’s a very sweet guy. Very humble. Doesn’t ask for much of anything. Just want the ability to be able to live and take care of his family,” Pasquarello says.

“We gave him the opportunity to live longer. Now to give him the opportunity to have a great holiday season is something we wanted to do. I think what was most impressive about this is how everyone came together. We had people from all areas of the heart team - the VAD team, heart transplant, heart failure - come together to help out. It’s great feeling to be able to help someone who’s part of our community.”

Ventricular assist device coordinator Leslie Gilbert agrees. “It’s nice when we can give back to our own patients. It’s a really good feeling. It’s what the holiday spirit is all about.”

Green’s wife, Shannon Fields, has been by his side as MUSC Health. They were high school sweethearts. She says he has not had an easy time of it lately. “He hasn’t able to work. Before he got the device, he was short of breath. He couldn’t walk for five minutes. He had to sit down. Now he’s doing well, not short of breath. He can walk upstairs.”

It’s the latest in a series of ups and downs for Green. “It started as a heart murmur when he was in his teens,” Fields says. “Over time it just developed and got worse. This is his third operation. He’s always come here. We just feel comfortable because they know everything about him. They’ve been very helpful with his journey through all this.”

MUSC Health’s Heart and Vascular Center specializes in mechanical circulatory support for people with severe heart failure. Gilbert describes how Green’s LVAD works. “It basically functions as the left side of the heart. The pump itself sits in the apex of the left ventricle and then, via a graft, it goes up to the aorta and pushes blood out to the rest of the body.”

It will help Green enjoy being a father again. “They’re 11 years old to 7 months,” he says, describing his kids’ age range. The baby, Tanylah, is with him and his wife as they load up the car.

Green imagines how the older kids will react on Christmas day when they see the gifts. “Jaws dropping. They know daddy was in the hospital for the past 3 months. It’s a big toll on them too. But they’re very supportive of me.”

So is the MUSC Health heart team, he says. “I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I’m very grateful for the job that they do.”