Libby Morsheimer

For New Yorker Libby Morsheimer, having a rare heart defect was a cloud hanging over her, always present and frequently worrisome.

Morsheimer was diagnosed as a child with Ebstein's anomaly, a defect involving the tricuspid valve of the heart, and lived knowing "somewhere along the line it would have to be dealt with."

It was in 2003, at Mayo Clinic. Morsheimer underwent an operation to repair her heart, returned home to Buffalo, New York, and resumed her job as an academic advisor at the University of Buffalo.

"I feel like a great weight is lifted," Morsheimer says. "I'm not an Ebstein's patient anymore and I was for 38 years. Now everything is working the way it should've been when I was born."

It was a false diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disorder, that led Morsheimer to Mayo Clinic. She'd been treated at other medical facilities and told her heart was enlarged and that the leakage in her tricuspid valve had worsened. Both are common occurrences for those with Ebstein's, a disease that affects less than 1 percent of all patients with congenital heart disease.

While her heart ailments were expected, the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension sent Morsheimer into a state of despair and confusion. It's very uncommon for Ebstein's patients to develop pulmonary hypertension, a fact Morsheimer gleaned in her medical research, and she was heartbroken to think herself an exception.

"I knew I had a condition that was rare and relatively serious," Morsheimer says of having Ebstein's. "But being told I had that extra piece made it 10 times worse and much more serious."

Mayo Clinic physicians reassured Morsheimer that she didn't have pulmonary hypertension, but urged her to undergo open heart surgery to replace or repair her tricuspid valve. Heidi Connolly, M.D., a Mayo cardiologist and Joseph Dearani, M.D., a surgeon, gave Morsheimer a positive outlook on surgery, predicting a high rate of success.

Now-retired Mayo cardiac surgeon Gordon Danielson described a unique surgical technique to repair the tricuspid valve in select Ebstein's patients and Morsheimer hoped she'd be a candidate. The surgery increases the odds that a patient won't require future operations.

Mayo is also a premier facility for Ebstein's patients, as Mayo physicians see one to two Ebstein patients a week. Given the rarity of the disease, that frequency is reassuring for patients, Dr. Connolly says.

As for Morsheimer, Dr. Connolly describes her prognosis as excellent. "We'd be very optimistic that she may never require another surgery," she says.

Upon waking from her surgery on Sept. 17, 2003, Morsheimer was relieved to find her tricuspid valve had been repaired. She was out of bed walking the hospital halls the same night and went home a week later to recover.

Morsheimer recalls her treatment at Mayo with gratitude, remembering with fondness the nurse who braided her hair, the physician's assistant who answered questions without hurry and the physicians who met with her prior to surgery to address her concerns thoroughly.

"I feel such gratitude for the people at Mayo who really used their intellect and talents to help in such an important way," Morsheimer says. "We're so grateful and know we can never really repay anybody."

Morsheimer's life in Buffalo has settled into normalcy. She travels, makes hand-crafted soap, takes her Siberian Husky, Keisha Marie for daily walks and will soon start planning her 2006 wedding.

She also recently accepted the position of vice president for the Greater Buffalo Chapter of Mended Hearts, a national organization for people and their families who have experienced heart-related events.

Morsheimer is grateful for the support of her family, fiancé, friends and coworkers during her time of illness and surgery.

"Months later people would come up to me and let me know they had kept me in their thoughts and prayed for me," she says. "I am very fortunate."