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Your Healthy Family: TAVR has 93 year old Harry Hatcher going strong

Posted at 12:04 PM, May 01, 2019
and last updated 2023-02-21 13:16:26-05

Disclaimer: This is sponsored content. All opinions and views are of UCHealth and does not reflect the same of KOAA.

COLORADO SPRINGS – It might be hard to imagine that a 93-year-old Colorado Springs man has moves like Jagger, but it might be more accurate to say that when it comes to getting a heart fixed, Mick Jagger has moves like Harry Hatcher.

Harry explains, “I knew I had a heart murmur.  The doctor kept telling me that someday this is going to have to come to a head and we would need to do something about it.  Finally, one day I passed out and ended up at Memorial Hospital and he said, ‘this is the time to do it.’ ”

It was in April of 2018, and rather than have open-heart surgery to repair his aortic valve, Harry and his doctors opted for a transcatheter aortic valve replacement, also known as a TAVR.

For Harry, being able to replace the heart valve without having to open up his chest was an easy choice after his doctors explained the procedure had a very fast recovery time.  “I wouldn’t be in the hospital very long and that opened an eye for me.”

Harry said in no time after his TAVR he was once again living life to the fullest and calling Bingo with his friends at Liberty Heights in Colorado Springs, where he visits regularly to also play poker and enjoy other activities.
“It’s wonderful,” says Harry.  “I have been calling bingo for about 15 years here.  I have some people who get upset with me because I don’t call the right numbers, but I don’t let that bother me.”
Harry has been so happy with how his TAVR went, that he has recommended it to friends who also were in need of a heart valve repair but were apprehensive of open-heart surgery.

Harry says, “The recovery time is just nil.  Within two weeks I could drive my car. They did recommend  me not doing any heavy lifting for about a month, but I pretty much went back to my regular duties, like calling Bingo and playing poker.”

Harry is part of a group of more than 100 patients who have now had a successful TAVR procedure at UCHealth Memorial in Colorado Springs.

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