14 years ago my life changed On December 18th 2009 I underwent my 1st open heart surgery that wasn’t planned. In November of 2009 I was sick with pneumonia & was in heart failure My local hospital sent me home told me to take these antibiotics knowing I was in heart failure & had heart issues I ended up in Cleveland Clinic Heart Failure ICU, they saved my life (thanks to my family telling me to go) My heart was only functioning at 10% & all my organs was shutting down When the cardiac team got into the OR plans was changed, I came out with an LVAD. My family nor I was aware of what the LVAD was or what it all entailed All I can say that night in December changed my life & gave me a wake up call on life