"I can feel your heart..."

The moment captured in this photo was the most poingant and meaningful moment of the year following my aortic valve replacement via TAVR in November 2014. I had the privilege to meet the two women who meticulously placed approximately 2000 stitches by hand into my Edwards Sapien XT bovine tissue aortic valve. Surprised to learn that my valve had been hand-sewn, I welled up with emotion and gratitude to meet and personally thank the person who had done this for me. As I was hugging her tightly, she whispered in my ear, "I can feel your heart!" My response is captured on the Patient Day video posted here. My story begins at 2:36 sec into the video.