I told Bill he could keep playing baseball, and that was music to his ears.
Hannah I. Chaudry, MD, DHMC interventional cardiologist who fixed Bill Lee's complicated artery blockageBaseball fans who come out for Friday’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats home game against the Erie Sea Wolves are in for an extra special treat. Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Bill “Spaceman” Lee will throw out the first pitch as the guest of honor for Dartmouth Health’s seventh annual Love Your Heart Night, promoting cardiovascular health.
Lee, who played for the Sox from 1969 to 1978, was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the team’s record-holder for most games pitched by a left-hander and the third highest win total by a Red Sox southpaw. A legend for his signature “Leephus pitch” and free spirit, the “Spaceman” continues to play for the Savannah Bananas expo team at the age of 77.
In 2022 and 2023, Lee suffered a series of major cardiovascular events while playing with the Bananas, including one incident where his heart stopped and he technically died before being revived by EMTs. Lee had a complicated heart artery blockage, and cardiologists at multiple medical centers declined to take his case—until he came to the Heart and Vascular Center at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where interventional cardiologist Hannah I. Chaudry, MD, successfully opened the blockage and deployed a stent.
“I told Bill he could keep playing baseball, and that was music to his ears,” said Chaudry, who will join Lee on the mound for the first pitch. “Any time I am able to give a patient a new lease on life, that’s a privilege I don’t take for granted—but knowing how much Bill means to generations of baseball fans around the world, from his days with the Red Sox to now with the Savannah Bananas—it’s especially meaningful to play a role in allowing him to continue doing what he loves, and bringing so much joy to so many people in the process.”
Lee will be available for interviews at the game, which must be scheduled by Media Relations Specialist Cassidy Smith. Contact Smith at cassidy.m.smith@hitchcock.org or 401-743-7199.
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 nhfishercats.com or by calling 603-641-2005.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.