Bill Golden travels frequently for his job as a wine sales manager, mostly by airplane. It was during one of those routine business trips that he contracted a virus that caused the otherwise healthy 64-year-old’s heart to fail. “I picked up a virus that attacked my heart,” explains Golden. “Up to that point, I’d had no heart disease whatsoever – no heart attacks, no palpitations, no shortness of breath.”
On July 28, 2012, he began to feel fatigued and thought he was suffering from a cold. His illness progressed so quickly overnight that his wife took him to the hospital the next morning. Golden was quickly diagnosed with heart failure and was transported by helicopter to Piedmont Heart Institute at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. “The moment they told me I was getting on a helicopter, I realized I was in deep trouble,” he says.
Heart failure treatment
After spending nearly a month in the hospital, Golden received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) on August 20.
Because Golden had no history of heart failure, he did not notice a major change in his health after receiving the LVAD. However, as time went on, he noticed an improvement in his strength and energy level. Subsequent testing found that his organs had fully recovered. Golden is now considered a viable candidate for a heart transplant and he says it is a goal he has been working toward.
While doctors told him he could use the LVAD for the rest of his life, Golden says, “I’m a relatively young man and have grandchildren. I really want to move forward with a transplant and this was the best bridge vehicle.” Golden considers the LVAD “a safety net and method to stay alive because my heart will not keep me alive in its current state.”
Waiting for a new heart
“The phone call about a transplant is something I’ve thought about a lot,” he says. “My wife and I keep our cell phones on all the time.” Golden says the phone call “will be one of those moments in time you probably will never, ever forget because then you’ll have a certain amount of time to get to the hospital and then you’re in surgery. There’s no waiting around at all – it’s rather quick.”
Golden looks forward to the day when he will receive a new heart. “Some people say, ‘that’s scary,’ and yeah, I guess it is,” he says. “But I think that’s the next step in my life.” For more information on heart failure, LVAD or heart transplantation, click here.
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