André Séguinot restores your hope in aging well. At 81, following heart surgery, he wanted to know how quickly he could get back to playing in his jazz band, teaching judo at his dojo and having sex again. If that’s not a brilliant way to take full advantage of a second chance at living, I don’t know what is.
André had developed a leak in one of the valves in his heart, meaning his heart was working overtime and still not getting the job done. He was tired and winded and frustrated. A simple walk through his house into the backyard left him exhausted, and a far cry from his active and agile former self. As he explained to me, “it was a drag”.
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| Sunnybrook’s Schulich Heart Centre is one of only three centres in Canada offering this procedure. |
The normal fix for André’s condition (known formally as mitral regurgitation) is open heart surgery. But with previous health problems, that wasn’t the best option for him. He needed a less invasive fix, and was grateful that one was available at Sunnybrook. Called the Mitraclip, a small device is inched up to the heart through a catheter inserted through a vein in the groin. Once the clip is in place, it literally catches the loose leaflets and minimizes the leak (picture pinching your lips shut with your fingers). It’s done under general anesthetic, so patients are literally home the next day.
Because the Mitraclip isn’t funded by the province, it’s paid for through donations to the Sunnybrook Foundation. That means the number of patients who can have it done is currently limited. But the hope is to have another choice to offer to patients who might be out of options otherwise.
I spent some time with André at his dojo, watching him flip men half his age onto the mats. He would walk over to me, explain another move, and then make it happen as I filmed from the sidelines. I’m no cardiologist, but it all looked like a pretty impressive outcome. Plus, if you’ve worked hard enough to earn a black belt, it would be a shame not to be able to enjoy it.
