Beloved patient who got new heart, kidney to appear in Super Bowl ad

When a Super Bowl ad airs on Feb. 9, focusing on heart and vascular care at MUSC Health in the Columbia area, some of the featured figures have a bond that transcends the typical doctor-patient relationship. Two of the cardiologists in it, L. Garrison Morgan, M.D., and Joshua “Bear” Coney, M.D., can’t say enough good things about heart and kidney transplant recipient James Page. He appears with them in the TV spot.

“He’s a one-of-a-kind guy,” Morgan said.“I think the thing that makes Mr. Page so lovable is just his enthusiasm. He has an infectious personality. He has a love for life. He has a love for his family, and he wants to do what's right.”

“I think Mr. Page deserves it,” Coney said, referring to the recognition Page will receive from the Super Bowl ad. 

“He's the ideal patient. He follows all instructions. He stays in communication. He takes his medicine; he follows up appropriately, and he had a great outcome. And so if there were a trademark to MUSC when it comes to patients, Mr. Page would be that person because he's showing that there is a team-based approach with a strong patient and doctor relationship. And all together, we come together and bring a great outcome at the end.”

The origin of that enthusiasm can be traced back to a longstanding relationship that began years ago between Morgan and Page. “I've taken care of James' entire family,” Morgan said. 

It’s a family that has dealt with more than its share of heart problems. Page was hit especially hard, Morgan said.

 

“James was the only one that had what we consider to be ischemic cardiomyopathy. His ejection fraction, or EF, was down, but he also had coronary disease. We had a bunch of stents that had been put in in the past. And so we had been kind of managing a situation for a few years, and then his heart function continued to deteriorate.”

Despite his difficulties, Page knew he could count on his doctor. “Let me tell you what Dr. Morgan did for me,” Page said. “He never gave up on me.”

Page, a married father of four kids, had everything to live for. “By the grace of God, I'm still here. But also, by the grace he made, he puts angels in your life. Dr. Morgan is one of my angels because he never gave up on me. And he kept on pushing, pushing, pushing and finding some way for me to go.”

Page got a left ventricular assist device for his heart. Then, he developed right heart failure. That meant a right ventricular assist device – and more surgery. “The amount of damage from the repeated operations and everything else caused his kidneys to start failing,” Morgan said.

The Columbia cardiologist worked to get Page on a waiting list for heart and kidney transplants. But a setback caused Page to be removed from the list. 

That’s when Morgan called Coney, who’d just been hired by his hospital but hadn’t started work yet. “I got his phone number, and I called him up and I said, ‘Hey, I know you don't know me, but I have this really, really, really good dude. He's a great friend slash patient. I've taken care of his whole family. He's in a real bad situation.’”

Coney listened, then used his connections to get Page on another transplant list – this time, one that led to the patient receiving a heart and kidney. But once again, there was a setback.

“He suffered from a severe infection in the lungs. And multiple different bugs were growing, and they couldn't figure out what it was. And so he had to be on wide-spectrum antibiotics for quite a long time before they were able to get it addressed and then allowed him to go home. So he went home, and then he got infected and had to come back, poor guy,” Coney said.

“But he was a very, very passionate patient and he was motivated to get better. It made everybody around him want to help.”

These days, Page is back home with his wife and their kids, reflecting on his experience and looking to the future. He hopes his story – and maybe the Super Bowl ad – will encourage other people to check on their heart health. “My doctor told me that the No. 1 thing for you to function in life is blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, if your heart is getting weaker, it's going to cause some problems with your kidneys. If it causes problems with your kidney, it's the liver right behind it. So it's a chain reaction to all these things.”

February is American Heart Month, a good time to try to prevent such problems, doctors say. Heart disease is the top cause of death for adults in the U.S. And high blood pressure, as Page noted, is a top cause of heart disease – but just a quarter of people who have high blood pressure have it under control. 

“If I can do anything for anybody, it’s really to tell people to check on yourself before it's too late,” Page said.