“I'm blessed. They saved my life”—Heart attack survivor who received triple bypass at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to throw out first pitch at Dartmouth Health’s Love Your Heart Night

Dartmouth Health’s summer celebration of baseball and cardiovascular health returns this Saturday, August 9, with the eighth annual Love Your Heart Night. Home team the New Hampshire Fisher Cats will face off against the Fightin Phils of Reading, PA, as representatives from Dartmouth Health’s Heart and Vascular Center will be on hand offering giveaways, blood pressure readings, and helpful information on taking the best care of your heart.

Dartmouth Health’s guest of honor at this year’s Love Your Heart Night is Rob Walters of Swanzey, NH. An outdoorsman with a degree in environmental conservation, Walters, who will throw the game’s first pitch, likes to stay active with a variety of hobbies for each season, from freshwater and ocean fishing to snowmobiling, hunting to riding his Harley-Davidson. So when he felt what he thought was heartburn in November 2024, he took an antacid and didn’t think much of it—until his Fitbit alerted him that his resting heart rate was elevated. He went to Dartmouth Health’s Cheshire Medical Center, where he was told he was having a heart attack, and was transported to Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).

Walters’ care team at DHMC initially believed a stent deployed via his wrist would solve the issue. But after blockages were found during three catheterization attempts—each 95-100% blocked—Walters’ surgeon, Henry J. Tannous, MD, determined that more drastic measures were required: a triple bypass, in which healthy blood vessels are grafted to bypass the blocked sections of the coronary arteries, allowing adequate blood and oxygen supply to the heart once more.

“I was told about having the bypass surgery, and I just thought about it for a brief while,” Walters said. “And I remember Dr. Tannous and his team standing in the back of the room, and I just stuck my hand out, and I said, ‘What are we waiting for?’ So, he shook my hand, and I said, ‘Let's go.’”

Walters missed his family’s large annual Thanksgiving dinner, instead spending the holiday in a hospital room with his wife and one of his sons—but needless to say, with his heart attack discovered not a moment too soon, he had—and still has—much to be thankful for.

“Life today is wonderful for me,” he said, adding that he developed a strong connection with Tannous and was grateful for his compassionate care and calm, serene demeanor. “I'm blessed. They saved my life.”

For Tannous, the feeling was mutual.

“Rob is my kind of patient,” Tannous said. “His whole journey makes us like our job. It's an internal reward that we feel as practitioners. Sometimes, the human touch of leaving a room smiling after you talk to someone is enough to make us feel good about our whole day.”

Attendees are asked to wear red to Love Your Heart Night, which begins at 6:35 pm at the Delta Dental Stadium, 1 Line Drive, Manchester, NH. Tickets can be purchased online at bit.ly/46IccP6 or by calling 603-641-2005.