Cardiac surgeon Dr. Carolyn Teng, former patient Diane Smith-Merrill and Dr. Wael Abuzeid reunited at the KGH site earlier this month.
In a life-or-death moment, cardiac experts at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) came together to perform a procedure that would save Diane Smith-Merrill’s life—and mark a huge milestone in the evolution of cardiac care right here in southeastern Ontario.
When Diane arrived at the Emergency Department at KGH, her life was in immediate danger. “I had a heart attack that came out of nowhere—I hadn’t been sick, and suddenly I was in the hospital,” Smith-Merrill recalls.
Initially the cardiac team inserted two stents in her arteries to improve blood flow, and she was recovering well. But then her situation quickly deteriorated.
“I got up to have a shower, I felt really lightheaded and couldn’t breathe. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to survive.” - Diane Smith-Merrill
That was the moment when one of her heart valves ruptured and blood was now leaking into her lungs. To make matters worse, she was too weak to survive open-heart surgery to repair the valve.
With traditional surgery not an option, interventional cardiologist Dr. Wael Abuzeid and cardiac surgeon Dr. Carolyn Teng made a bold decision.
“Her condition was rapidly worsening and she wasn’t going to survive. That’s when we decided to move forward with something we’d never done on an emergency case before: a mitral clip repair.” Dr. Wael Abuzeid
Using a catheter inserted through a vein in the leg, the cardiac team guided a tiny clip – like a staple – up into the heart’s mitral valve, stopping the leak without opening her chest. Within minutes, Diane’s body began to recover.
“Apparently 10 minutes after the clip was put on, blood was flowing to my other organs, like my kidneys, and everything started to work again. One minute I was near death; within half an hour, I was alive again,” she says. “I’m humbled by their talent and the science of it all. It’s remarkable what this team can do.”
Dr. Carolyn Teng, her cardiac surgeon, emphasizes the teamwork behind the lifesaving intervention. “I want to stress what an amazing team effort this was. When I assessed Diane and saw she would not survive surgery, there was no hesitation by any team member to come in and help.”
Smith-Merrill also praises the ICU nurses who cared for her while she was unconscious. “They took care of me and supported my family every step of the way, for six days I was intubated and unconscious and my daughters tell me those ICU nurses were fantastic,” she says. “Dr. Teng was amazing with my daughters as well, a total rockstar, patiently answering all of their questions and supporting them through the entire experience.”
Launched in 2022, KHSC’s mitral clip program has now completed more than 100 traditional procedures, but Diane’s case was the first emergency repair.
“We’ve built an incredibly skilled team here in Kingston, capable of delivering specialized care that only a handful of centres in Ontario can offer. The fact that we’re now able to use these techniques in an emergency is a sign of just how far we’ve come in a few short years.” - Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, KHSC Chief of Staff
Smith-Merrill, who is now back to work and walking up to 3 kilometers again each day, wants to additionally share her thanks with all the individuals who have supported her in her healthcare journey, from teams in the Emergency Department, OR and ICU, to individual physicians including Drs. Parker, Potter and Gallupe.
Want to support the work of KHSC’s Cardiac Program? Learn how you can make a donation to KHSC through our partners at the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.
