BJC HealthCare

For months, Khalid ignored his chest pain.

At 75, he was visiting family in St. Louis and assumed the discomfort that came and went was nothing more than fatigue. He wasn't worried. He felt fine, mostly.

"Most of the time, my chest pain happened when I was walking or when it was cold outside," Khalid says. "Since I was traveling and visiting relatives, I thought I was stressing myself out and getting tired."

Then one morning, the pain got worse. Khalid came to the Emergency Department at Progress West Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction—a type of heart attack caused by partially blocked coronary arteries. Left untreated, an NSTEMI can lead to serious complications, including further heart damage and stroke.

Khalid was hospitalized for monitoring and underwent heart catheterization performed by interventional cardiologist Sanjaya Saheta, MD—a diagnostic procedure that allows physicians to examine blood flow through the heart and its arteries.

Through it all, Khalid kept a quiet faith in his care team.

"I trust when I go to the doctor," he says. "I give myself up because they're experts and they know this stuff. I don't worry myself thinking about 'What's going to happen, and then what will I do?' I just sit tight and see what happens."

The catheterization revealed the need for further intervention. Khalid was referred to David Kardesch, MD, a BJC Medical Group interventional cardiologist, who placed three stents in Khalid's arteries during a single procedure—restoring blood flow and preventing long-term heart damage. Stents are tiny tubes placed in blocked blood vessels to keep them open, allowing blood to flow freely.

"The care I received at Progress West felt different from care I've received at other hospitals," Khalid says. "You can tell they provide care from the heart, and they were all down-to-earth, caring people."

Today, Khalid remains in St. Louis continuing his recovery—and if his progress continues, he'll be back home in Georgia this summer.

Read Khalid's full story—and Dr. Kardesch's tips for keeping your heart healthy: https://heyor.ca/0nsm5M

After multiple strokes, Crystal was told she had likely reached the limit of her recovery. She refused to let that be the end of her story.

“Somebody had to help me do everything,” she says.

Her right arm and hand lost strength and dexterity. Her balance was affected. Even her speech became less fluid. For years, she pushed forward through therapy, doing everything she could to regain strength and mobility. But like many stroke survivors, her progress eventually slowed.

Still, Crystal never gave up. When her physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital offered a new approach, she was eager to try.

WashU Medicine specialists use advanced neurorehabilitation technologies—including vagus nerve stimulation paired with intensive rehabilitation, and IpsiHand®, a brain-computer interface therapy—to help rewrite what recovery can look like for chronic stroke survivors.

“When we combine this therapy with targeted rehab, it allows patients to move beyond what was once considered a plateau,” says Alexandre Carter, MD, a WashU Medicine neurologist specializing in neurorehabilitation at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Crystal began noticing changes in everyday moments. Tasks that once felt frustrating or impossible started to come back.

Folding clothes. Cooking. Cleaning. Walking with a cup of water without spilling it.

“I can do that. I couldn’t do that before,” she says.

Her arm could lift higher. Her grip became stronger. She could grasp and release objects on her own again. She even found herself doing something she once thought she might never do again: jumping rope.

For Crystal, her progress added up to greater independence—and a renewed sense of what’s possible. Now, Crystal hopes her story encourages other stroke survivors not to give up—and to explore what might still be possible in their recovery.

“I did it,” she says. “And you can do it, too.”

Read Crystal’s full story and learn how WashU Medicine Physicians are helping patients move beyond what was once considered a plateau:
https://heyor.ca/iE2raO

WashU Medicine Orthopedics
WashU Medicine Neurology