More Moments to Live For

Marv Howie's heart was poised to stop any moment and he didn't even know it.

Marv never had symptoms himself, but one of Marv's older brothers had an emergency bypass operation on Christmas Eve 2007. Less than a month later, Marv's family doctor, concerned about the family-related heart troubles, referred him to Dr. Larry Patrick for a stress test.

"There were some puzzling changes in his stress test," recalls Dr Patrick. "With his family history of coronary artery disease, I thought we should go further. It was only after a MIBI and a CT angiogram that I realized what a big problem he actually had."

The purchase of the first SPECT CT at London Health Sciences Centre was made possible because of a significant financial donation from the Tevlin family through London Health Sciences Foundation. The leading edge technology used by this equipment combines nuclear and tomographic images into a 3D image.

For cardiac patients the SPECT CT means that you can, in effect, do an angiogram without the risks of the angiogram. Angiograms involve putting catheters in arteries. The SPECT CT on the other hand is non-invasive showing both the heart's anatomical structure and how the heart is functioning.

For Marv, the impact of his SPECT CT results were significant, showing a blockage. The main artery on the left side of Marv's heart was 85% blocked; a severe level of blockage known as 'The Widow Maker.' Marv has his own colourful way of describing the danger.

"You're just doing something and you're just 'Ffft' over," he says.

Before retiring, Marv was a maintenance worker at Victoria Hospital. One of his jobs was to maintain and adjust surgical lighting, but he never dreamed he would be under those lights as a patient.

Marv had his surgery a little over a month from the visit with his family doctor. The double-bypass surgery went smoothly. After a month he was feeling very good, two months after his surgery he was feeling "almost up to full speed."

"If it wasn't for this mark on my chest, I actually don't feel like I went through the surgery," says Marv. "They did such a good job."

Marv is very family oriented and enjoys the moments with his wife Ann, son Wayne, daughter-in-law Sherry, and grandsons Hugh and Alec.

"I have a lot to live for," says Marv. "I am 60 years old, but I am hoping to get a lot more years out of life then that."

"This diagnostic machinery we have and the people who know how to use them, it saved my life," says Marv. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that there are people in this hospital that can look after us."

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