This story is about my father-in-law, Billy V. Williams, who passed away in February of 2018.
I wanted to take a moment and say THANK YOU to the TAVR team!!! They were outstanding on so many levels! It all started in April of 2013. My sweet father-in-law, Billy V. Williams, was having fainting spells and was later told it was related to his heart. After a multitude of testing, decisions had to be made. It came down to a 90 year-old man making the choice to have or not to have TAVR to repair his valve replaced. Well, he chose to. He looked at my husband and I and said, “If it is meant to be, it will be. If not, then God will have me.” We were behind him 100%. In June he had a pacemaker placed and underwent his first attempt at TAVR. The procedure was terminated due to the valve being too large. On July 25th, 2013, a second smaller valve was attempted and placed successfully. During the surgery, he lost a lot of blood. He needed to have blood transfusions, but ultimately pulled through with a few ups and downs. Through all of this, he was the same sweet man he had always been. Dr. Mishkel said it best when he told him, “Billy, you are one tough SOB.” From that moment on, my sweet father-in-law lived the best life he could. He drove to his 91st birthday party. He never let much stop him, and it was all because of the amazing Structural Heart team and TAVR procedure at Prairie.
My husband and I were so grateful to have him for 5 more years. Sadly, he passed in February of 2018, not due to his heart – due to other complications. I thank the world for each and every one of the doctors, nurses and other staff at Prairie who helped us! If we hadn’t had the amazing team did, we would have lost him so much sooner than we did. We owe you all, especially Char Shallow, and a big Thank You! She was his guiding light and part of the team who followed and studied his progress for 5 years. Prairie will always have a special place in our hearts.