A Team Effort Brings Patient Back to Life at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute

Richard Nolan, a 74-year-old from Kansas City, Missouri, is a longtime patient at Saint Luke’s Cardiovascular Consultants. Over the years, he has been treated for claudication, a painful condition caused by reduced blood flow to the calf muscles during exercise. But when his symptoms worsened in July 2025, he was scheduled for surgery at Saint Luke’s East Hospital.

Richard met with Dany Jacob, MD, a board-certified cardiologist with Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, which provides comprehensive heart and vascular care across the Kansas City region. Dr. Jacob placed stents in the arteries that take the blood from the heart to the legs to relieve discomfort while walking.

Days after his surgery, Richard began experiencing back pain, and his care team identified a steep drop in his blood pressure levels, so they jumped into action to determine the cause. Imaging revealed a constrained retrograde aortic dissection—a rare but serious complication in which blood leaks out of the aorta and into the abdomen. While undergoing a CT scan, Richard’s condition worsened and he went into cardiac arrest.

Dr. Jacob was discussing Richard's case with Karthik Vamanan, MD, when the two heard a code called for cardiac arrest. "We rushed over to the CT room to find that Richard was the patient and immediately got to work," Dr. Jacob says.

Dr. Jacob and Dr. Vamanan led the resuscitation, with assistance from Lyndsay Kidd, RN AGACNP; Kimberly Campbell, RN, ANP-BC; Stetson Harris, CV lab specialist; Kylie Lambert, RN; and McKenzie Thompson, RN. Together, they revived Richard and Dr. Vamanan performed an emergent aortic repair. Once stable, Richard was transferred to Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City for further advanced heart care.

“Richard’s case is a powerful testament to the old saying, ‘It takes a village,’” Kimberly says. “Cardiovascular Consultants, the Heart Institute, Saint Luke’s East, and Saint Luke’s Hospital—we all came together in a high-stakes moment to deliver seamless care, and ultimately save a man’s life.”

Richard remained in the hospital for two weeks to recover. And when he returned to Saint Luke’s Cardiovascular Consultants in September for a follow-up visit, he had plenty of reasons to smile.

“I’m feeling pain-free for the first time in many years,” Richard says. “I’m up and about, I’m walking every day—I’m living my best life.”

Comprising nearly 100 board-certified experts in cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, and critical care anesthesia, Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute offers a comprehensive range of treatment options for advanced heart failure, structural intervention, preventive cardiology, electrophysiology, and heart and vascular surgery. 

Learn more about the Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute.