Two heart surgeries later, why I believe Lethbridge’s cardiac centre will make a difference

She says they first learned when I was six weeks old that I have a condition called tetralogy of fallot, which is where four different heart problems are present. Perhaps the most concerning one was a hole in my heart.

My parents were told that if my skin turned blue, I would have to be rushed from my home in Kelowna to the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver for surgery.

“Imagine seeing your child turn blue – it’s a little on the tough side. Six months old, they said it’s time to do it,” my mom said.

On a cold January day in 1994, they packed me into the car and drove five hours down the Coquihalla Highway, leaving my older brother, Andrew, with a relative in the Okanagan.

My mom told me that I was “hooked up to every bell and whistle” in the operating room, and she teared up as she recalled seeing me in that state.

The aftermath of the open-heart surgery I had at six months old. (Image Credit: Erika Opinko)

The operating room where I had open-heart surgery at six months old. (Image Credit: Erika Opinko)

She says the care that I received was excellent, and the staff were wonderful for the two weeks we were in the hospital.

“The calming thing was, everyone loved you. You had hair like Kramer (from Seinfeld), and they just all fell in love with you. It made it a little easier. It was very tough.”

At the same time, she wishes it wasn’t so far away from home.

“You’re also stressing about your other one at home, which isn’t just across the street. You have that distance to go. You’re constantly phoning – at that time, there was no FaceTime – so you’re phoning, you’re talking to the other one, making sure everything at the house is OK. Then going back to the hospital, back and forth, back and forth,” my mom recounted.

“Distance doesn’t help.”

My family moved to Cranbrook a few years later, and we had to travel to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary every couple of years for checkups. That continued when we moved to Coaldale when I was eight.

For the most part, the rest of my childhood was pretty normal.

It was known, however, that around the time I turned 30, I might need to have another heart surgery.

So, fast forward to 2024, I’m married, and we just welcomed our second child. I begin to notice that I’m frequently getting out of breath and would feel my heart beating heavily without much physical exertion.

After some testing, which, of course, involved numerous trips from Lethbridge to Calgary, I learn that 47 per cent of the blood that flowed into one of the chambers of my heart was leaking out.

I ended up getting a transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement on October 28, 2025, at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton. It is an artificial heart valve that, somehow, they were able to transport through a blood vessel in my groin all the way up to my chest and replace the real valve.

The medical staff were great to me, and the recovery wasn’t too bad.

As my dad drove me back to Lethbridge, I couldn’t help but think about how much easier all of this would’ve been if it could’ve been done back home.

My mom notes that travel for medical purposes is often expensive and stressful.

“You still have to do travelling. That is tough. What if you don’t have family, you don’t have transportation, you don’t know how to get from point A to point B?”

Through my news coverage of the Bringing Hearts Home campaign, I have learned that heart disease is the leading cause of death in southern Alberta, but that this is not the case in the rest of the province. That is due to the region south of Calgary lacking specialized cardiac services.

The Cardiac Centre of Excellence at Chinook Regional Hospital will alleviate much of this, and especially in emergencies, could mean the difference between life and death.

The Bringing Hearts Home campaign looks to raise $30 million by February 2027 to make this a reality.

Thanks to a $1 million donation this week from Chris Murray, about $26 million has been raised so far. That means that they still need to collect another $4 million in the next 12 months.

Upon completion, the cardiac unit at Chinook Regional Hospital would include:

Two cardiac catheterization labs
Two electrophysiology labs
Expanded cardiac diagnostics, including echo, stress testing, and Holter monitoring
Dedicated cardiac CT and MRI imaging capacity
A modernized ICU and redeveloped Coronary Care Unit with enhanced patient safety and infection-control design

If you have never had heart-related complications, the chances are that you know somebody who has or who will, whether they are too young to take their first steps or old enough to know that they only have so many left.

This is a cause that I believe in passionately, and one that I would encourage you to support at any level you are able.

You can learn more about Bringing Hearts Home and donate at CRHFoundation.ca

Pattison Media’s B93.3 FM and WILD 95.5 FM will be among the local radio stations supporting Thursday’s 16th Annual Care from the Heart Radio-A-Thon. It will be raising money for Bringing Hearts Home.

In closing, I would like to say how incredibly proud I am of everyone who has donated to or volunteered for Bringing Hearts Home. You are truly making a difference in your community.

Thank you.

by David Opinko

Two heart surgeries later, why I believe Lethbridge’s cardiac centre will make a difference

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