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Our Former Fire Chief Receives New Heart
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From the Asbury Park Press:
LONG BRANCH: Chances are, if you have needed emergency care or the help of a local firefighter anytime over the last half century, Don Henry was among the first responders pounding at your door.
Henry, 73, has been a volunteer firefighter serving a term as chief in the 1980s for more than 50 years.
During the same period, he also has been a fixture with the local first aid squad. He is known around town by his childhood nickname, Dink.
But things weren't going so well for Henry over the last few years as he dealt with advanced heart disease, the kind that saps your energy and leaves your skin a whiter shade of pale.
"My wife and I did feel that I wouldn't last through the summer," said Henry, who quit smoking after suffering a heart attack in 1988.
On Sept. 7, it was Henry who needed to make a call for help and his first responders carried him from his Long Branch home into Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where he made history.
Henry, then 72, became the first patient at the facility to receive a new Abiomed Impella 2.5 heart pump that hospital officials describe as the world's smallest artificial heart, and one reserved for only the most gravely ill heart patients.
The pump is meant as a temporary fix to buy physicians time as they take necessary actions to repair a faltering heart.
"I just woke up in recovery and really felt fine," said Henry. He also knew he had Dr. Ashish Patel, his electrophysiologist, to thank as it was Patel who had lobbied the hospital to secure the a device.
"It's a miracle," said Henry. "The doctor said it was only the size of a pen."
Henry already wore a pacemaker that was working overtime jolting his heart back into normal behavior and that alone is one indicator that the heart is going to need more assistance if it is to continue to function without irreversible damage, Patel explained in an interview.
On that day, Henry arrived at Jersey Shore in cardiac arrest and Patel was able to use the heart motor to control the heart's pumping action for up to six hours while he performed a ventricular tachycardia ablation that not only saved his life but as Henry describes it, saved the quality of his life.
No longer do friends recoil when they see Henry's deteriorating condition. His color is back. There is a metaphorical spring in his step.
"I think I'm happier now after I've had the operation," said Henry. When he sees fellow firefighters and first aiders now, they say "Gee, Dink, you look good," he said.
Patel was able to use typical cauterization procedures, inserting the pump through an artery in Henry's thigh and advancing it to the heart. Patel then cauterized the malfunctioning parts of Henry's heart and restored it to normality.
The artificial heart was out of Henry's body before he woke from the anesthesia, the city volunteer said with a laugh.
But back then, it was not a laughing matter.
"His heart was experiencing life-threatening arythmia," explained Patel and while officially and euphemistically, Patel said such a condition leave his patients with "limited options," he was more plain-spoken during the interview.
"We wouldn't have any real viable options at Jersey Shore before this device came along," Patel said.
"Without the ability to support his heart," the patient would likely die, Patel said. But since Henry's procedure, the artificial pump has been used several time and patients are doing well, Patel said.
Patel described the progress of a 31-year-old mother who had suffered a heart attack while giving birth.
"She's actually doing quite well" now Patel said.
Henry, who moved to Long Branch when he was two weeks old and retired at the mandatory age of 55 from his job as career firefighter at the Earle Naval Weapons Station, was also at the time rising through the ranks of the volunteer firefighting force in Long Branch. He started at the Atlantic Engine and Truck Company in 1960, his career culminating when he served as chief of the Long Branch Fire Department in 1986.
During his lengthy career, he watched as some of the grand old hotels went up in smoke. He fought the fire at the iconic Hollywood Hotel, for example.
In 1961, he joined the Long Branch First Aid Squad where he now serves as trustee, spending his free time running day-to-day needs at the Long Branch Avenue facility.
"I just liked to help people at their time of need," said Henry. But even he was concerned about his deteriorating health over the last few years, he said.
About 18 months ago, the Henrys lost their son, Donald Henry Jr., 47, to cancer, and they knew their daughter and their son's family could not handle another loss so soon.
"Both my grandsons and my daughter would go ballistic," if Henry had not survived, he said. "Now that my heart is strengthening out, I'm doing better," said Henry noting that when his wife Eileen plans activities with the grandchildren, he can actually enjoy participating these days
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