When Harry Landers found himself in the ICU following an open heart bypass surgery, he spotted a whiteboard in the hall. Harry’s left main coronary artery had been blocked, which lead to testing and surgery at UVA Health.
On that whiteboard was the word “Goals.” He asked his wife, Janis Jaquith, to pick up a marker and write his goal on the board: to run the 2024 Tokyo Marathon.
“He makes me laugh every day. Every day,” says Janis, chuckling about Harry’s ambitious goal. It was a big contrast to Harry lying in bed, recovering from surgery.
But about 6 months later, Kenan Yount, MD, the UVA Health heart surgeon who performed Harry’s heart bypass, got a picture in the mail. It was Harry, in Tokyo, at the 2024 marathon.
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Racing Against the Odds
There’s a history of heart disease in Harry’s family. But he thought he had it beat – he exercises often. He loves running and trains for marathons. But Harry wasn’t outrunning his creeping coronary artery disease.
“I love training,“ says Harry. “I love running with my friends who are training for marathons with me.” With all of his exercising, he didn’t believe he could have the same heart issues he’d seen in his family. “Because I was fit, I assumed that meant that I was healthy. But what’s going inside doesn’t necessarily bear any relationship to that.”
“With Harry, you know, he was in such good shape. He had done everything he could on his own to try to control it,” notes Yount about Harry’s heart disease. “But he had a strong family history of heart disease and high cholesterol.” Harry had developed atherosclerosis in his left main coronary artery. Atherosclerosis is a buildup of plaque that causes a blockage in the artery and prevents blood from flowing properly.
One night, Harry’s blocked artery began causing a serious problem. “I could hear him kind of gasping with these odd sounds, and he was absolutely rigid,” recalls Janis. Harry quickly recovered from that episode, but it happened again the next night. “Exactly the same time, 4:00 in the morning. The rigidity and the gasping, gasping. And then he stopped.” Janis checked Harry’s chest and couldn’t hear his heart. But then Harry recovered again. “That took a much longer time.”
That’s when Harry and Janis decided to see a doctor right away.
Turning Setbacks into Strides
It took some digging, but Harry’s heart doctors finally found the source of his episode. At first they checked Harry’s brain, but that wasn’t where his health issues were coming from. They then decided to check Harry’s heart using a stress test.
They found the blockage in his left coronary artery. He needed surgery to restore good blood flow to his heart. “For someone like him, bypass surgery is absolutely the gold standard,” says Yount. “The left main artery really feeds the main pumping chambers of the heart. And almost always when you have disease there, the answer is bypass surgery.”
About half of Americans between 45-84 have atherosclerosis, but they don’t know it. It can cause symptoms like chest pain or pressure, sudden weakness, vision or speech problems, and other issues.
Don’t ignore these symptoms. They can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or other emergency.
Determination, Healing, and 26.2 Miles
Harry’s surgery was a success, and he found himself on the road to recovery. He worked closely with his care team on what his recovery would look like. “He was fit, athletic, and his heart was in great shape. I knew he’d bounce back quickly,” says Yount.
‘”There was a very clear script that I would meet with certain people. They would tell me what was going to happen. I got set up with somebody who was kind of a resource all the way through. I felt like I was in good hands,” he says. “Once I got home, I had a regimen right from the beginning.”‘
When Heart and Willpower Combine
Harry credits his providers with helping him reach his big goal. “It felt like the Rolls Royce of hospitals,” he says about his time at UVA Health. “Just the quality of the nursing care, the attentiveness. Yeah, that was it was really a difficult experience, but it was the best way to experience what I had to.”
Not only did Harry run the 2024 Tokyo Marathon, but a month after that, he ran the Boston Marathon. “I have this streak of running the Boston Marathon. I’ve done it 16 times,” smiles Harry.
Harry’s Journey in His Own Words
See Harry, his wife, and his healthcare providers discuss Harry’s heart blockage and bypass surgery.
HARRY LANDERS I’m Harry Landers. I’m 71. What gives me much of the pleasure of my life is running and training for and running marathons. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to keep on doing it for a long time.
JANIS JAQUITH Harry Landers and I met in seventh grade in Wilmington, Massachusetts. And it wasn’t until our fifth year high school reunion. He laughed at my jokes. Six months later, we got married.
HARRY LANDERS Both of my maternal grandparents died of heart failure, heart attacks in their 50s. My father had bypass surgery, probably in his early 60s. A few years ago, at my annual physical, my doctor told me that my cholesterol was getting high. Through all this, I felt fine. I never felt any effects. I was still running competitively. Everything in my life was unchanged. And then there was an episode where I woke up in the middle of the night panting and couldn’t quite get breath and couldn’t breathe.
JANIS JAQUITH And I had put my my ear to his chest and heard nothing. And I said, “Harry, come back to me.” …and he did.
KENAN YOUNT, MD The stress test came back positive. He had left main coronary artery disease, which is one of the most significant types of coronary artery disease. The left main artery really feeds the main pumping chambers of the heart, and almost always when you have disease there, the answer is bypass surgery.
JANIS JAQUITH There was a whiteboard in the ICU, doctors would write things, and one said ‘goals’. And I think they had written like, “stand up” or something. And Harry said, “Go pick up that marker and write, ‘run the Tokyo Marathon 2024’.”
DEANNE MCINTIRE We don’t have patients that run for hours and hours and hours several months after this surgery. So it was a bit of an unknown, but also a way to learn.
HARRY LANDERS After the 30 day checkup, I started the cardiac rehab program, I kind of implemented my own training program. I’d have physical exercises that I did, and I was monitored at all times.
KENAN YOUNT, MD I didn’t put any restrictions on him in terms of activity level. All of a sudden I get a picture from Tokyo. I thought to myself that that had to be a first that quickly after open heart surgery, to be back running marathons.
HARRY LANDERS The interesting thing is I don’t really like running marathons. In fact, I kind of hate running marathons. They’re really hard and it’s really painful. That said, I love training for marathons. I love the process of getting fitter every day, of following the plan. I love running with with my friends who are training for marathons with me.
KENAN YOUNT, MD The first time somebody has heart surgery, that’s a pretty daunting thing. Sometimes that’s just a nonstarter for some people, but by the same token, it gave him the ability to keep doing what he loved to do.
HARRY LANDERS And success doesn’t come at once just because you’re starting at a low base doesn’t mean you’re not going to climb that hill very gradually over a period of time. It’ll get better.