Henry Suarez woke up at St. Boniface Hospital. He had made it to Winnipeg by air ambulance service, which was already a miracle.
Dr. Jonathan Hong, a surgeon with Cardiac Sciences at the Hospital, was standing over his bed in pre-op.
“Dr. Hong radiated confidence. I could feel it from everyone in that room, which gave me hope,” remembered Suarez, 48. “I didn’t feel as afraid at that moment.”
Only hours earlier, he was working on his computer at home in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was March of 2025, and a snowstorm blew outside. Little did he know, his life was about to change in an instant.
“It all started with a gurgle in my throat. Fear, nervousness, and anxiety washed over me. Panic kicked in because I knew something was wrong,” Suarez remembered.
Within minutes, his jaw locked up. He experienced an unusual tightness in his teeth and intense jaw pain that radiated up into his ears.
“It felt as if a dentist had pulled all my teeth. Dizzy, I went upstairs as carefully as I could, and told my wife, Carla, something was terribly wrong here. ‘I think I’m having a heart attack,’” he told her.
The couple decided to call 911. An ambulance came quickly and rushed Suarez to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
At the hospital, the results of a CT scan showed that he had a Stanford type A aortic dissection and a type B dissection as well. Type A can be very quickly fatal.
The mood turned sombre. “They told me to get my affairs in order and call my family. Carla and I had to prepare for the possibility that I might not survive the air ambulance flight,” heading to Manitoba’s Cardiac Centre of Excellence at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg.
Thunder Bay paramedics loaded Suarez onto the air ambulance, which took off immediately. In the airplane, he texted everyone he could think of, reaching out to family and friends, saying his goodbyes. He had a hard time thinking straight.
The surgery was complex and went on for more than 12 hours.
Dr. Hong saved Suarez’ life with an aortic root replacement with a mechanical valve, and an aortic arch replacement. “Looking back, I wonder how he and his team lasted for that long. Who can do that with a steady hand!?” asked Suarez.
Afterwards, exhausted as he was, Dr. Hong still went to talk to Carla, who had arrived in Winnipeg. “I was impressed that he took the time,” said Suarez. “I thank God they treated my wife and family with compassion. The personal touch goes a long way.”
“Every single Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse, on every single shift change, knew their stuff. I could tell and see the level of care at St. B was outstanding, absolutely out of this world.”
“They were honest with me in the ICU about my recovery. I can still lead a normal life, but I will have to be careful. When you come out of something like I did, you can feel like your life is over. You think, ‘I can’t be the same again,’ but my St. B caregivers gave me the confidence to move forward, that I can do it,” he said.
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