Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Josiah Petite lives life with a song on his lips.

And that's a big part of what keeps him going.

That, and the love of his wife, Dee, his family.

And a palm sized titanium pump called an LV aed.

Here's our own Grover Silcox to share more of Joe's fascinating journey and the medical miracle that saved his life.

Grover, welcome.

Always great to see you.

Great to be here, Brett.

So tell us all about Joe.

Well, Joseph is a fellow about my age with a beautiful tenor voice.

He sang professionally for years, but he almost lost everything because of end stage heart failure.

Fortunately, he was saved by a left ventricular assist device, otherwise known as an L, that it's an artificial heart pump.

And it was installed by the Lvad team at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown.

So how does he feel with this device in there?

Well, according to Joe, it's given him a new lease on life.

Is great.

That's amazing.

It sure is.

The history of the left ventricular assist device dates back to the 1960s.

The first Lvad system was created at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1962, and the first successful implantation was completed in 1966.

Since that time, Lvad has become miniaturized and surgically implantable.

Hey, Joe, how about a little tabletop entertainment?

Okay.

Sounds good.

Greg, please release me.

Let me go.

73 year old Joseph Shapiro of Scranton loves to sing.

And, he will always want Ernie.

He's been singing since he was a teenager and has performed with his own acapella group and some well known groups through the years.

Unfortunately, Joe suffered a heart attack about 15 years ago, and his heart weakened to the point where he eventually needed an artificial heart pump known as an Lvad, to survive and regain his quality of life.

I wanted to live.

Me and my wife.

We spoke it over and we decided that Lvad would be the best decision.

Joe needed a heart transplant, but because of his age and a cancer diagnosis, a transplant was out of the question.

So he opted for the artificial heart pump used for its one of the greatest things I've done.

I mean, I keep singing, you know, I can sing now because before I quit and lose my breath, I run out of breath, I can't breathe, I wake up at night.

I couldn't breathe, but now everything's back to normal.

Release me, my darling.

Let me go.

Doctor Timothy Missal, chief of adult cardiac surgery, and his team at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, performed Joe's Lvad operation in 2023.

An Lvad is a mechanical heart device, and it stands for left ventricular Assist Device.

It's something that we can implant into a patient to help their heart function better, and it often gives them a better quality of life.

And the technology has improved a lot over the years when it was first approved for human use.

These were huge machines that, the patients really even had a hard time leaving the hospital.

And so the intent was to keep the patients alive long enough until they can get a transplant.

Over the years, the technology has been improved.

It's been miniaturized.

And it's now to the point where a patient could leave the hospital with only a battery pack.

It's a true engineering marvel that we have this technology available to, provide for the needs of our patients.

Doctor Missal, back then, he was very, very good.

He did the operation, and, I didn't feel not.

I mean, I'm asleep and of course, but, you know, next thing, I woke up in the morning, I was like, I'm here.

Yeah, I made it.

Although Joe didn't qualify for a heart transplant.

Turns out he was a perfect candidate for the Lvad, especially because of his motivation.

I had no, doubts that he would do well.

So the first thing we do when we meet a patient who may benefit from an Lvad is we talk with them, we show them the device.

We try to get them to meet some of the other patients who, have had to know that and how it's impacted their life.

There's a bunch of medical testing to ensure that they're a good candidate.

And afterwards, we correlate all that information and we make a decision, and then we move on to the dramatic part, which is the implantation process.

It can take 2 to 4 hours and a good situation.

Patients are usually in a hospital for about ten days.

Then they're discharged to home and they continue to get stronger.

And we monitor them while they perform and do my my singing.

I wear this.

This is the wire that goes into my stomach, up to my heart, to the pump, to my heart.

My batteries are in here.

These are the batteries.

This is the monitor.

This tells you anything that goes on.

If something goes wrong, one of these lights will light up.

So what should I expect?

You expect to hear a click from the valve.

And when?

Where?

What type of thing?

Okay, from the pump.

One interesting change for the man who's used to keeping a beat.

He no longer has a heart beat himself.

Wow.

It actually sounds like a little music box up.

We moved to a new technology called Continuous Flow.

So if you can imagine the flow through a garden hose.

So these patients don't have a pulse like you and I have.

They have flow that's continuous, like coming out of a garden hose.

Joe and his wife Denise, now enjoy life the way they used to before his heart started to give out.

Lvad gave him his life back and his voice and my my style is, a lot of oldies, and I like 50, 67 days.

I do crooner music.

You know, Frank Sinatra, FEMA and stuff like that.

I do some old songs that, some of the groups I sing with, the classic the mystics, the Drifters, all those guys.

I do music like that, and I'm singing in a lot of nursing homes now, and a couple of restaurants here and there.

And, it's still going it.

Yes.

Well, that gave Joe his life and his voice back.

Meanwhile, his wife Dee lovingly watches over him to help him manage the device.

Well, Ben's Lvad care team remains his care team for life.

There are so many people involved with the care of an Albert patient.

It's certainly not just the surgeon.

Once that patient is determined to be a potential candidate.

They're seen by our team, which consists of cardiologists, a surgeon, and very importantly, a coordinator who, is usually a nurse.

And they, help us correlate all the information and they help the patient with their journey through the workup, through the surgery, and afterwards they become their best friend.

And so Joe and I enjoy making every day a joyous one with family, friends and a life filled with pure heart and, you know, you know, if anybody out there is thinking about Lvad, consider it.

It's really a great thing to have it having your life back to back the way it was.

And also, if you need a single, you can call me.

Thank you.

According to Doctor Missal, back LBM has several patients who have made it ten years and are still going.

What's more, he said that as the technology continues to be miniaturized and the power options improve.

One day there will be a fully implantable device that doesn't require an external battery.

He believes that the future is very bright for these patients.

Grover.

It's such a positive story and one that really underscores the possibilities medical technologies have in keeping us alive and well.

Absolutely.

I think Joe and his wife, Dee would would agree, would be the first to agree.

It sounds like it hasn't just restored his life, but his quality of life as well.

Absolutely.

And he really proved that when he belted out a couple tunes at the dining room table while we were chatting over coffee.

Just a really wonderful story.

Sounds like a great guy.

He is.

All right, Grover, as always, thank you so much.

My pleasure.

And that'll do it for this edition of living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.