Heart patients celebrating life

Forum Health surgeons perform 500 to 600 heart surgeries each year.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Jennie Colla of Boardman is walking laps around her apartment, and she can't wait for spring so she can golf and work up to walking nearly three miles a day as she once did.
William Bunkley of Vienna Township will celebrate his 49th wedding anniversary in June. He is doing golf fitness exercises and getting ready to take some golf lessons.
Colla and Bunkley were among 350 people who attended The Heart Hospital at Forum Health's eighth annual Celebration of the Heart on Wednesday at Mr. Anthony's Banquet Center. The Yoon Group at Forum Health sponsors the event each year for patients recovering from heart surgery.
Dr. Pyongsoo D. Yoon is chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine. Other surgeons in the group are Dr. Andrei Gursky, Dr. Gregory Smaroff and Dr. John C. Cardone.
Dr. Yoon said they do 500 to 600 heart surgeries each year, either at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial or Northside Medical Center.
Dr. Yoon performed quadruple bypass surgery on Colla's son James, 53, in September. She had an aorta valve replacement and bypass surgery at Northside on Jan. 13.
"I'm doing really well," she said. Colla, 81, has seven children, 24 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Colla said her cardiologist found the problems with her heart during a routine visit.
10-hour operation
Bunkley's heart surgery Sept. 2, 2004, at Trumbull Memorial was his third. He had two previous surgeries in Cleveland and opted to stay close to home for the third.
Dr. Yoon said Bunkley's surgery took about 10 hours, including replacing two heart valves.
Bunkley said having heart surgery at TMH was a blessing for his family, especially for his wife, who does not drive long distances.
"Everyone here was fantastic," Bunkley said. "The nurses and everyone are excellent. There is a lot of great support."
Bunkley is a 1947 graduate of East High School. He said he feels really good now after his heart problems caused him to be weak.
Besides playing golf, he is a member of the board of directors for Trumbull County's SCOPE senior citizens group and is active in Vienna Kiwanis Club and as an elder at Vienna Presbyterian Church.
His wife, Doris, is grateful for the care he received at Forum Health and looks forward to their 50th wedding anniversary next year.
"Dr. Yoon told us [her husband] was in his and God's hands," Doris Bunkley said. "After the surgery, he came out and talked to us. Even being so tired from that long surgery -- and that was his second one that day -- he explained everything to us. He had diagrams to show us what he did."
She said despite her faith in Dr. Yoon and his medical team, there were times during her husband's 10-hour procedure she worried they might not get to celebrate their golden anniversary.
"I just prayed and prayed," she said. "After three surgeries, I call him my miracle man."
tullis@vindy.com