{"id":14892,"date":"2018-03-06T08:48:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T15:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=14892"},"modified":"2022-11-16T11:43:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T18:43:39","slug":"vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"\"
Joe and Sandy Dolan at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on Feb. 1, two days shy of his second \u0091VADiversary.\u0092<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Joe Dolan wears his, or at least part of his, in his modified ballistic vest.<\/p>\n

It holds two batteries, one on each side, each about the size of a phablet. They connect to a controller. If his pant pockets aren\u2019t big enough, Dolan, 72, can carry the controller in the modification to his ballistic vest \u2013 a \u201cmarsupial pouch,\u201d he calls it, that his wife Sandy sewed in. The controller connects to a driveline, and the driveline connects to what is, functionally, an artificial heart.<\/p>\n

Technically, it\u2019s called a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD. Feb. 3 marked the second anniversary of the surgery that implanted it at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. Call it a \u201cVADiversary,\u201d as his care team does at UCH, the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan whose lives depend on getting VADs. They come in from as far away as southern New Mexico and Montana for the surgery.<\/p>\n

Big shock<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2006, Dolan was a retired anatomy and physiology professor living in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He had always liked to draw and had a knack for it, so he took up painting: landscapes in watercolor and abstract pieces in acrylic. The paintings were good enough that people bought them. He and Sandy were at his booth in a Sterling, Colorado, art show when his heart went into ventricular fibrillation and fluttered rather than pumped. Dolan collapsed.<\/p>\n

His art might well have saved his life that day. A doctor and an off-duty police offer had been checking out his paintings at that very moment. They performed CPR until the paramedics arrived to shock his heart back into rhythm. Soon thereafter, the medical team at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR) in Loveland implanted a defibrillator. Over the next few years, it saved his life more than once, too. But each shock was \u201clike getting kicked by a horse,\u201d as Dolan put it, sending him to the hospital for a couple of days. His heart failure worsened after such episodes, which, as Sandy put it, \u201creally pull the rug out from under him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dolan\u0092s HeartMate 3 VAD\u0092s magnetically levitated impeller spins at a steady 5,400 revolutions per minute and pumps 4.6 liters of blood in that time. He has no perceptible pulse; his wife Sandy, who has listened to the implant with a stethoscope, says \u0093it sounds kind of like a jet ski.\u0094<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2013, the Dolans had moved to Greeley to be closer to his MCR providers. By late 2015, his heart failure had progressed. He wasn\u2019t painting; golfing, another passion, was out of the question. He was largely relegated to a recliner.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the feeling that something\u2019s dreadfully wrong,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cI had lived with this for so long and thought, \u2018This is the end of the line.\u2019 And I was willing to accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His cardiologist at MCR, Tristan Dow, MD<\/a>, referred him to Amrut Ambardekar, MD<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine cardiologist at UCH. Ambardekar consults regularly at MCR; he specializes in heart failure and ways to treat it, including heart transplants and VADs.<\/p>\n

Dolan wasn\u2019t eligible for a heart transplant. Two years earlier, he had had a melanoma removed from his arm. The need for organ transplants far outstrips organ availability, so transplant candidates are carefully vetted. You need to be cancer-free for five years, generally, because transplant antirejection drugs rein in the immune system and open the door to relapse. By that point, Dolan would be too old for a heart transplant (the cutoff is 70). But he could be a candidate for a VAD, Ambardekar told him.<\/p>\n

Lucky coin<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By January 2016, Dolan\u2019s kidneys were failing, his liver was shutting down, and he had serious gastrointestinal pain, all from the lack of sustenance from his heart failure. At UCH, Dolan did the presurgical testing including a treadmill stress test, a drug-induced stress test, an echocardiogram and a heart catheterization to check for obstructions and quantify blood flow. A healthy heart might pump out 70 percent of the blood in its ventricles (the lower chambers that do the real pumping) with each heartbeat; Dolan\u2019s struggled to deliver less than one-fifth as much.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A depiction of the HeartMate 3 in action (Courtesy Abbott).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The night before the operation, Joseph Cleveland, MD, the cardiac surgeon who has done the lion\u2019s share of the more than 300 VAD implantations performed at UCH in the past two decades, stopped into Dolan\u2019s inpatient room. He asked Dolan what he liked to do. Dolan said he liked to golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a golfer myself,\u201d Cleveland said. \u201cAre you right-handed or left-handed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan\u2019s a lefty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad to know that, because I\u2019ll put the driveline on your right side so it won\u2019t affect your swing,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n

Cleveland is one of two surgeons and two cardiologists leading a national clinical trial<\/a> of the latest edition of Abbott\u2019s HeartMate VAD. Dolan enrolled in the trial. It involves comparing the HeartMate 3<\/a> with Abbott\u2019s mainstay HeartMate 2 (UCH also implants Medtronic\u2019s HeartWare<\/a> VAD). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the HeartMate 3 as a bridge to transplant in August 2017; this trial is to see how well it works for long-term \u201cdestination therapy,\u201d where a heart transplant isn\u2019t in the cards. Dolan had read up on the new device, which uses maglev (for magnetic levitation) technology to suspend as well as rotate the pump\u2019s whirling impeller. That and some other features were designed to go easy on blood cells and minimize clotting that was an occasional problem with the HeartMate 2. Dolan wanted the new one, but being part of a trial, it would be a matter of chance.<\/p>\n

A UCH Mechanical Circulation Support Program team member handed him a quarter. Dolan asked, \u201cDo I get to flip for it?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, but the quarter, the staffer said, was a lucky one.<\/p>\n

Dolan held it in his hand during the computerized randomization. It assigned him a HeartMate 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quarter\u2019s still on my dresser. I wouldn\u2019t get rid of that for anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Living life<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dolan\u2019s son and daughter and four grandchildren were among those he said goodbye to before going into surgery. Sandy worried that her husband lacked the strength to pull through the eight-hour procedure. He described himself as having been at peace. \u201cI knew it would be OK. I felt that I was in the best hands that anyone could hope for because of my discussions with the medical staff here. I think they\u2019re just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Joe Dolan and some of his hardware. With the shirt closed, it\u0092s fully concealed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a complicated surgery. The VAD must be inserted into the base of the weakly beating heart\u2019s left ventricle, from which it will draw blood into a tube that connects to the aorta, the main thoroughfare for the body\u2019s oxygenated blood supply. Then the drive line must emerge from the abdomen.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, UCH surgeons have gotten very good at it. Surgical mortality used to be in the 10 percent range, says Jay Pal, MD, PhD, who recently succeeded Cleveland as the surgical director of UCH\u2019s Mechanical Circulation Support Program. Now, thanks to smaller VADs and improved approaches, that\u2019s down to the 1 to 2 percent range despite the perilous health of many of these heart failure patients, he said.<\/p>\n

Pal would like to drive that number down further while reducing surgical complications and speeding recovery time. He\u2019s launching a trial at UCH to compare the outcomes of traditional VAD surgeries, which go straight through the center of the chest, with an alternative called a thoracotomy through the side of the chest. It\u2019s another example of the UCH team having an impact \u201cnot just for the patients we take care of, but on the field as a whole,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Andreas Brieke, MD<\/a>, a UCHealth cardiologist and medical director for UCH\u2019s Mechanical Circulation Support Program, has seen VADs evolve from devices that could be relied on to keep a patient alive long enough for a heart transplant \u2013 perhaps 18 months, tops \u2013 to one in which 60 percent of patients are on destination therapy. They can now realistically hope to see VADiversary after VADiversary. The longest-serving VAD implanted at UCH made it more than eight years, he said. Patients typically succumb to other health problems unrelated to the VAD, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helping patients get their lives back,\u201d Brieke said. \u201cIt has been a game-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it is for Joe Dolan. He\u2019s painting, he\u2019s doing cabinetry, he goes to his grandkids\u2019 sporting events, he travels \u2013 among other trips, to conferences as an Abbott HeartMate 3 ambassador \u2013 and he golfs every chance he gets. There are hassles: in addition to the batteries in his ballistic vest, he carries extras as well as a spare controller in a small shoulder bag wherever he goes. Sandy carefully cleans the driveline entry point twice a week. But it\u2019s a small price to pay, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dolan and grandson Grant Rossman in his studio. \u0093I love to have my grandkids come over and paint,\u0094 Dolan said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI am absolutely living life. I cherish every day,\u201d he said. \u201cTo this point, I\u2019ve been given two years of quality life that I wouldn\u2019t have had, and if there\u2019s another year, two more years, five more \u2013 whatever there is, I am going to make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Joe Dolan wears his, or at least part of his, in his modified ballistic vest. It holds two batteries, one on each side, each about the size of a phablet. They connect to a controller. If his pant pockets aren\u2019t big enough, Dolan, 72, can carry the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":14894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3512,1013,2391,9167],"class_list":["post-14892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-heart-and-vascular-care-cardiovascular","tag-heart-failure","tag-lvad","tag-specialized-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMan marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\"},\"headline\":\"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\"},\"wordCount\":1658,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Heart and vascular care\",\"Heart failure\",\"LVAD\",\"Specialized services\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Innovative care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\",\"name\":\"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed - UCHealth Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":857,\"caption\":\"Joe and Sandy Dolan at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on Feb. 1, two days shy of his second \u0091VADiversary.\u0092\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/\",\"name\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"description\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UCHealth\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"UCHealth\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/uchealth\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uchealth\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/14839\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/uchealthorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\",\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\"},\"description\":\"Todd Neff has written hundreds of stories for University of Colorado Hospital and UCHealth. He covered science and the environment for the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and has taught narrative nonfiction at the University of Colorado, where he was a Ted Scripps Fellowship recipient in Environmental Journalism. He is author of \u201cA Beard Cut Short,\u201d a biography of a remarkable professor; \u201cThe Laser That\u2019s Changing the World,\u201d a history of lidar; and \u201cFrom Jars to the Stars,\u201d a history of Ball Aerospace.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/tneff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed - UCHealth Today","description":"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed","og_description":"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/","og_site_name":"UCHealth Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","article_published_time":"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uchealth","twitter_site":"@uchealth","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/"},"author":{"name":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911"},"headline":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed","datePublished":"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/"},"wordCount":1658,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp","keywords":["Heart and vascular care","Heart failure","LVAD","Specialized services"],"articleSection":["Innovative care"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/","name":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed - UCHealth Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp","datePublished":"2018-03-06T15:48:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-16T18:43:39+00:00","description":"LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, is a life saver for Joe Dolan, a former anatomy and physiology professor. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region combining the diverse array of medical, surgical and support expertise needed to serve heart failure patients like Dolan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/03\/12090554\/EXT_02XX18-Joe_SandyDolan.jpgeee.webp","width":1200,"height":857,"caption":"Joe and Sandy Dolan at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on Feb. 1, two days shy of his second \u0091VADiversary.\u0092"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/vadiversary-marks-second-year-of-a-heart-failure-patients-life-renewed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Man marks second LVAD anniversary and a life renewed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","name":"UCHealth Today","description":"UCHealth Today","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization","name":"UCHealth","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"UCHealth"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/x.com\/uchealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uchealth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/14839\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911","name":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba17a8f1358d39c104ff6cb59da7fe21b9bfc792948447c3ac964e93b37aa49f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Todd Neff, for UCHealth"},"description":"Todd Neff has written hundreds of stories for University of Colorado Hospital and UCHealth. He covered science and the environment for the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and has taught narrative nonfiction at the University of Colorado, where he was a Ted Scripps Fellowship recipient in Environmental Journalism. He is author of \u201cA Beard Cut Short,\u201d a biography of a remarkable professor; \u201cThe Laser That\u2019s Changing the World,\u201d a history of lidar; and \u201cFrom Jars to the Stars,\u201d a history of Ball Aerospace.","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/tneff\/"}]}},"coauthors":[{"id":23,"name":"Todd Neff","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/tneff\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14892"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66843,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14892\/revisions\/66843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}