CHICAGO – After serving 21 years in the U.S. Army, Louis Smith’s heart only functioned at 10 percent. The father of three from Country Club Hills, Ill., had been visiting the Advanced Heart Failure Clinic at the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JBVA) for about one year before his symptoms suddenly got worse. Just before Thanksgiving 2023, the then 65-year-old was told he needed a new heart.  

Louis was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he waited just two weeks for his new heart. Before his transplant surgery on December 31, 2023, he wasn’t nervous, wasn’t scared, but did have one request for his surgeon.  

“Can you do me a favor? When you cut me, can you try to save the tattoo on my chest?” said Smith. “It’s a saying that me and my late father used to say. We would listen to ‘I did it my way’ by Frank Sinatra. That’s our saying. If you can please not destroy the tattoo, I’ll be just fine.” 

Benjamin Bryner, MD, a cardiac surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, made sure both the incision and stiches would preserve every inch of Smith’s tattoo.  

“Mr. Smith had some tattoos that we were eager to save as best we could,” said Dr. Bryner. “There’s no way to do a transplant without leaving a scar behind, but we did our best to make sure the tattoos would at least line up and we were happy with the final results.”

Serving His Country and Needing a New Heart

Smith enlisted in the Army when he was just 17 years old, following in the footsteps of his father. His more than two decades of service took him through tours in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Germany, and Korea, but feeling his heart begin to fail was something this soldier was not prepared for.  

“I used to wake up every morning around two o’clock,” said Smith. “It felt like somebody was either choking me or standing on my chest. And I couldn’t breathe. It was like somebody just turned off my air.” 

Smith suffered from cardiac amyloidosis, an underdiagnosed disease that causes heart failure. It occurs when protein builds up and is deposited in tissues where it isn’t supposed to be. This can lead to organ damage, notably in the heart. Cardiac amyloidosis impacts up to 25 percent of people over the age of 80, with African American patients at a higher risk.  

During his time in the Army, Smith was active and never had any issues with his health. He was 63 years old by the time he learned about the genetic condition he’s had since birth. Because his case was so advanced, not only did he need a heart transplant, but Sarah Chuzi, MD, a heart failure and heart transplantation specialist at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and JBVA, recommended he be moved up on the list.  

“I went to visit him in the hospital and noticed he was short of breath just walking from his bed to the bathroom,” said Dr. Chuzi. “That was so out of character for him, so unlike him. I could tell that he really felt like things were changing rapidly. So, we recommended that he not only be listed for heart transplant but that he be listed at a very high status which gave him priority on the heart transplant list.”

Almost one year later, Smith is doing well and is back to his old routine. He enjoys spending time with his wife of 47 years, Jacquelyn, his three children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Smith is an avid biker, and often takes cross-country trips with friends on his motorcycle. He’s even taken one trip with his new heart.  

“I’m a soldier and a heart transplant survivor,” said Smith. “And I love my new heart.” 

More about the Advanced Heat Failure Clinic at the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center 

For more than 77 years, Northwestern Medicine has partnered with the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JBVA) in Chicago. Medical residents from the hospital system rotate through the VA clinic during their medical training, and it’s the longest-running academic affiliation in the VA system.  

In 2022, Sarah Chuzi, MD, a heart failure and heart transplantation specialist at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, established an Advanced Heart Failure Clinic at JBVA. Dr. Chuzi rotated through JBVA during her medical training and since then, she’s dedicated her career to helping veterans.

“The JBVA is very unique,” said Dr. Chuzi. “We serve about 62,000 veterans and about 70 percent of those veterans identify as Black. That is a population that is very underserved for a number of reasons. They face a lot of health barriers but also a lot of structural barriers to health like systemic racism, a lot of trauma, and PTSD. The combination of all these factors really does adversely affect their health.”

The clinic offers evidence-based heart failure care that includes medical therapy, devices, and other diagnostic tests and procedures. Patients from the heart failure clinic are often referred to Northwestern Medicine for specialized surgeries and treatments. Dr. Chuzi and her team will soon participate in heart failure clinical trials out of JBVA, including ones looking at new medications to improve patient outcomes.

To learn more about heart failure treatment options, visit nm.org.