MedStar Health – It’s how we treat people.

Nutrition program leads to a healthier life, and a healed heart.

After losing his only child in an accident, Paul Schwartz gained a lot of weight. “I just ate my pain away,” says Paul. “I got up over 300 pounds, my diabetes was out of control, and I was having heart issues.”

That’s when Paul’s cardiologist recommended MedStar Health's new nutrition program, Fresh & Savory. Our innovative eight-week program combines traditional medicine, nutrition, and holistic approaches to diet, mental, and physical health to help patients create a healthy lifestyle that works for them.

Each week, patients with diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions cook together during a group medical appointment. They also hear from experts about the importance of other lifestyle factors like reducing stress and getting enough sleep.

Paul used the skills he learned through Fresh & Savory to lose 105 pounds. He shares that Fresh & Savory is not just a diet he’s following, but a new lifestyle. This holistic approach to healthy living, along with the support he’s received from the doctors and other members of the program has given Paul a new sense of optimism.

“Being part of the Fresh & Savory community helped me heal my heart and my overall outlook on life.”

Learn more about our Fresh & Savory program

MedStar Health—It’s how we treat people.

A young mom’s long-awaited dream is realized.

Life was bliss for 25-year-old Tyquela Able. It was 2015 and she was loving motherhood and her new baby boy, Kimahni. But when her son was nine months old, Tyquela was feeling fatigue that wasn't simply the normal tiredness that comes from parenting an infant.

“I couldn’t go three steps up the stairs without feeling out of breath,” she says. Then she lost her appetite.

After visits to urgent care, the local hospital, her primary care physician, and a battery of tests, diagnoses ran from gallbladder disease to pneumonia. Ultimately, she was sent to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

“Then everything happened so fast," she recalls. "I had a series of tests including an echocardiogram, which showed that the left ventricle of my heart wasn’t pumping correctly.” Tyquela was not getting adequate oxygenated blood to her body—her heart was failing. “I was really shocked!” she says. But Tyquela—a born optimist—thought “things could always be worse.” With her faith and her family, she felt all would be ok.

“They first tried a defibrillator to see if that would help, but it didn’t,” she says. “That’s when the doctors told me I needed an LVAD [left ventricular assist device] to serve as a bridge to heart transplantation.”

“I had my battery put in a fanny pack in a fashionable color. It was just when fanny packs were coming back in style!” she says. With her LVAD in place, Tyquela went on with her life.

A call came a little over two years later: A heart was available. Sadly, the organ proved to be diseased. So, Tyquela’s agonizing wait continued.

“Then I got a call this past April. It was 7:30 p.m. and we were watching a movie. We ignored the ringing at first because it was an unfamiliar number. Finally, my Mom answered it. There was a heart for me, and they asked if I wanted it, and of course, I did."

“COVID was not on my mind,” she says. “I trust the transplant team. I trust my surgeon, Dr. Molina. When I told my son that mommy was getting her heart, he was so excited he wanted to kiss my chest.”

After surgery, Tyquela was up and walking as soon as possible. “They wanted me safely out of the hospital quickly because of COVID. And I was motivated to get home as soon as I could, too,” she says. Just two weeks later she was discharged. “I feel pretty good,” she says. Good enough to be walking up to five miles and to complete the last chapters of the book she is writing. “It’s my story with devotionals to help people going through the same experience," she says. "I understand that dealing with heart failure and facing transplant can be overwhelming, and I’m happy to be able to help.”

What is an LVAD? A left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, can mean the difference between life and death for those waiting for a heart transplant and are often called a "bridge to transplant.” An LVAD is a mechanical pump implanted inside the chest to help a weakened heart pump blood. The LVAD doesn't replace the heart, but just helps it do its job.

From March until May 2020, MedStar Health more than doubled the number of heart transplants performed despite the pandemic.

MedStar Health–It’s how we treat people.

Former NFL player’s kidney donation saves his brother’s life.

Joshua Morgan, a former NFL wide receiver with the Washington Football Team, couldn’t bear to see his younger brother, Daniel, get sicker and weaker each day with end-stage kidney disease. As his brother underwent dialysis three days a week for four hours at a time, Joshua knew he was suffering.

“All of his energy was just gone. It was like watching him grow into an old man overnight. He was deteriorating,” Joshua said in an interview with the Washington Post. In another interview with WTOP News, Joshua added, “I just didn’t want him in pain anymore. I just wanted to see him back to his regular life—energetic, enjoying his daughters, and really living life and not spending so much time in dialysis.”

The only way for Daniel to no longer need dialysis was for him to undergo a kidney transplant. But the average wait time for a kidney from a deceased donor is more than three and a half years, according to the United States Renal Data System—time that Daniel didn’t have. Finding a living donor was the better option.

“There are more than 100,000 people on the waiting list for a deceased donor kidney transplant. That’s why living donation is the first and best choice,” says Matthew Cooper, MD, director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation at MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute. “It can help patients get a kidney transplant more quickly before they become sicker.”

Although Daniel’s 60-year-old father, Dennis, was a compatible donor, Dr. Cooper and Daniel’s other physicians at MedStar Health preferred a younger compatible donor. They noted that a healthy kidney from a younger donor would work better and last longer. Joshua immediately volunteered to be tested and learned he was a compatible donor.

But finding a living donor was just the first hurdle Daniel and Joshua faced. The kidney transplant was scheduled to take place in mid-March, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was ramping up and many hospitals were temporarily suspending their transplant programs. Our MedStar Health team, however, put newer and more stringent safety protocols in place and continued to perform transplants for the patients in greatest need.

The surgery was a success, and both Daniel and Joshua are doing well. Daniel is back to enjoying everyday things, playing with his daughters, and getting back to work at the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

“I really feel like a new man. It is crazy how much energy I have now. I thank God for Dr. Cooper and my brother for saving my life,” Daniel said in the WTOP interview.

Despite the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team performed a record number of lifesaving procedures, completing 90 kidney transplants during March, April, and May of 2020.

We are fortunate that with the hard work of the Institute, the administration, and really everyone at MedStar Health, we were able to continue to say yes during the pandemic and perform more lifesaving organ transplants than any other program in the country from March through May,” says Dr. Cooper.

MedStar Health—It’s how we treat people.

Steffanie Sheppard of Prince George’s County got to celebrate a birthday she didn’t think she would have. After a recurrence of breast cancer in her liver, Sheppard feared the worst and gave away many of her personal belongings to family and friends.

After receiving targeted therapy at MedStar Health, her cancer is now in remission.

“I had very few side effects from my treatment. I feel great and I’m really enjoying myself now,” Steffanie says.

Now that her cancer is gone, Steffanie’s reclaiming many of the personal belongings that she gave away when she was first diagnosed. “I reached out to my family and asked them to return my boots and purses and other things, which they were more than happy to do,” said Steffanie. On a recent trip to the hospital, the cancer center team at MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center decided to throw a birthday surprise for Stephanie complete with balloons, flowers, and cupcakes.

“It is befitting of the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute because they care about me as the whole person. I never would have thought that people who just met me a few short months ago would help me celebrate my 70th birthday,” Stephanie said. “The cancer center team at the hospital always makes me feel like I’m the only patient, like I’m special.”

“It was truly gratifying to be able to induce her remission without the toxicity of traditional chemotherapy,” said Steffanie’s oncologist Eric Rubenstein, MD, medical director of cancer services at MedStar Southern Maryland. “I also felt grateful to have had the technology to diagnose her cancer remotely and to have the resources of the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute to arrange care with the clinicians from all the disciplines needed to direct her treatment in the best possible way. Most importantly, I felt fortunate to be graced by Steffanie’s lively, transparent, and joyful spirit. Her attitude and outlook definitely helped us to succeed.”

Now, Steffanie’s encouraging all women to not delay their regular breast cancer screenings and check-ups. “It’s really important that women take care of their bodies and know the signs and symptoms of their bodies. When they don’t have the answers, go get the answers.”