Patient thanks staff at St Thomas’ 50 years after a pioneering heart operation

A great-grandmother visited St Thomas’ Hospital to give thanks and celebrate 50 years since her life-saving cardiac surgery.

In 1953, Josie Rowe was 7 years old when she was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, a very rare complication following a bacterial throat infection. This caused inflammation in her heart over the years, which led to her aortic valve (the valve that controls blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body) not closing properly and causing blood to leak back into her, heart.

Josie was referred to Donald Ross at Guy’s Hospital, who was a pioneer in cardiac surgery. In August 1975 at the age of 29, she had the innovative Ross procedure, performed by Mr Ross himself. This operation replaces the aortic valve with the patient’s own pulmonary valve and the pulmonary valve is then replaced with a donated human tissue valve.

The aim of the operation was to give patients an aortic valve replacement that would not need the patient to take anti-clotting medicine. The valve lasts longer than the conventional tissue aortic valve replacements as these often deteriorate more quickly in younger patients.

Josie’s surgery was a success and she has not needed to have any further heart valve procedures, with her valves continuing to work well. She is now 79 and has lived a full and active life for a further 5 decades.

Together with her husband Bob, she has 7 children, 3 of which they had before her surgery and 4 more after. They now have 16 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild, and Josie continues to enjoy her craft hobbies including upholstery, sewing and painting.

To mark her half-century of health, Josie visited St Thomas’ Hospital, now home of cardiology at the Trust, on the anniversary of her operation. She was accompanied by husband Bob and daughter Catherine. They enjoyed a tour of the department and operating theatres, where she met members of surgical teams including cardiac surgeons, cardiac anaesthetists, scrub nurses, and perfusionists.

Josie was also shown different types of artificial valves that were the alternatives to the Ross procedure she had. Going down that route at that time would have meant that Josie would have needed to take anti-clotting drugs for life and her subsequent pregnancies would have had a much higher risk of complications.

Josie said: “I feel grateful that I am still here. I'm grateful that God's given me this family and given me this life. And Donald Ross helped him with that by doing the operation in the first place, because there's no way I would have been here. I would not have lived to be 30.”

“My favourite part of the day was just to meet staff who are helping people. Some of the time, they're not appreciated for what they do. The majority of the time, doctors do get it right. I'm an example of that. Someone got my operation right. That's why I'm still here after 50 years.”

Kamran Baig, one of the consultant cardiac surgeons who facilitated the visit, said: “Josie’s visit on the 50th anniversary of having undergone her Ross operation was one of the most delightful and honourable pleasures for those who were able to meet her.

“She was one of the early recipients of this operation that was pioneered by Donald Ross. And now, 50 years later, she came back to tell us all about how well she had done. It was really rewarding to see that.

“This particular operation has really undergone a resurgence in the last 10 to 15 years, as the increasing evidence base has been developed showing that it not only restores life expectancy but also maintains excellent quality of life.”

Professor David Anderson, professor of congenital cardiac surgery and consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon who trained under Mr Donald Ross, also had the honour to meet and speak with Josie during her visit.

He said: "Mr Ross was one of an elite group of pioneer cardiac surgeons whose exceptional skill and understanding of the heart enabled cardiac surgery to become safe. Thousands of people all over the world owe their lives to Mr Ross, affectionally known as DNR. For me it was a massive privilege to learn the operation from the surgeon who invented it.”

The Ross procedure was first carried out in London by Donald Ross at the National Heart Hospital in 1967. This procedure is still performed by surgeons at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Evelina London Children’s Hospital today, particularly on children and young, active adults.