MANSFIELD — Dawn Morton was certain she had the flu. She was visiting her sister in Michigan in the fall of 2013 when she began feeling sore and achy.
She’d been training for a half marathon, which comes with its own set of aches and pains, but this was different — it felt like an illness. She had to cut her stay short.
“I’m a mom of three young children myself,” Morton says, “and I didn’t want to spread germs to my sister’s kids, so I headed back home to Mansfield.”
But a week and a half passed and Morton still felt down.
“Night sweats, my whole body was sore … I decided it was time to go to the doctor.”
Her doctor ordered blood work as part of her checkup. When the test results came back, it revealed something more significant and more troubling than the flu: Morton had bacteria in her blood.
Her primary care doctor referred her to Prity Vaidya, MD, an OhioHealth infectious disease specialist. Dr. Vaidya had Morton admitted to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and placed on intravenous antibiotics. Morton had bacterial endocarditis, caused by an infection within her heart that is life-threatening if left untreated.
But how did this happen? People with healthy hearts, especially half marathon runners, don’t usually develop endocarditis.
Dr. Mary Alton, a cardiovascular imaging specialist at Mansfield Hospital, gave Morton a transesophageal echocardiogram, which uncovered the problem: Morton’s mitral valve was not functioning properly. The mitral valve allows blood to enter the heart’s pumping chamber. When it doesn’t close properly, blood leaks back into the lungs.
Morton’s damaged mitral valve made her susceptible to the bacteria that caused her infection. But that’s not all the test revealed.
After explaining the mitral valve damage, “Dr. Alton said, ‘Honey, you’ve had a hole in your heart since you were born,’” shares Morton, “I had three kids and trained for a half marathon. I’ve lived my entire life and never knew I had a hole in my heart.”
It’s called an atrial septal defect, a hole between the upper chambers of her heart that allows the oxygen-rich blood returning from her lungs to pass to the side of her heart that sends oxygen-poor blood to the lungs.
OhioHealth cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. David Brown, explains: “Atrial septal defect puts a burden on the right side of the heart, which leads to shortness of breath, fatigue and eventually heart rhythm problems that can lead to complications and even early death.”
The defect was discovered only because of sophisticated level of testing available at OhioHealth for her valve infection. It was this defect that made Morton susceptible to the bacteria that caused her infection.
Dr. Brown would be performing Morton’s open-heart surgery, but first they needed to get her heart healthy enough for the procedure. That meant nearly a month of daily IV treatments, which is why Morton was so thankful that Mansfield Hospital offers this level of heart care so close to her home and family.
“Everyone was so kind. They got to know me. I became friends with all the nurses there and would ask about my family,” she says. “One nurse, Jessica, gave my daughter her old stethoscope since my daughter was interested in medicine.”
“Other area hospitals do not offer the complex care needed for a problem like Dawn’s,” says Dr. Brown. “They can only make a diagnosis and send the patient to Columbus or Cleveland.
“People would tell me, ‘You should go to Cleveland, you should go to Columbus,’ but my husband and I stayed true to what we felt. I had been to OhioHealth before. I had all my babies there and I loved it. And I heard wonderful things about Dr. Brown. Honestly, I had a peace from God. I never gave it a second thought to go someplace else. I liked being near my family. I couldn’t imagine going somewhere else, but having my kids stay here at home.”
Dr. Brown expertly repaired Morton’s own mitral valve, avoiding the use of an artificial valve in a young woman, and also closed her atrial septal defect, preventing future and possibly lethal problems. Her surgery was followed by cardiac rehabilitation, also at Mansfield Hospital.
“The caring attitude and the professionalism … everyone was very meticulous,” she says. “The doctors were all on the same page. The whole team knew what needed to happen at all times and that’s huge. Everyone being so good at what they do made it easier. I had the best experience.”
Today, Morton keeps regular followups with Dr. Alton, and is back to running again, “I did a 5K fundraiser a few months after surgery. When I crossed the finish line, I felt blessed to be alive and thankful that my husband, kids and friends were all there. It felt really good. I want my life to have purpose, to be the best mom and wife I can be. OhioHealth gave me that chance.”
Dr. David Brown is a member of OhioHealth Cardiothoracic Physicians. For more information about heart and vascular services at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, please visit OhioHealthHeartandVascular.com or call 567-241.7000.
