Glenn Baker was just 32 years old when he underwent a relatively new surgical procedure in 1966 to replace a heart valve.
This week, the 82-year-old and his family will celebrate 50 years of living with the original valve — a feat not many patients can claim.
“They were taking the sickest people and hoping for the best,” said Carol Baker, Glenn’s wife.
“When I stop and think about it today, I’m overwhelmed that he’s survived this,” she added.
Baker was among the early patients to receive a Starr-Edwards heart valve, which was created by young surgeon, Dr. Albert Starr, and a semi-retired engineer, Lowell Edwards. The first Starr-Edwards valve to be successfully placed in a human — testing was done first on dogs — occurred in September 1960 at the University of Oregon Medical School, which is now Oregon Health & Science University. Prior to the Starr-Edwards valve, there were no published reports of patients living more than three months with a prosthetic valve in the mitral position.
The mitral valve is located between the left atrium (where blood from the lungs is pumped) and the left ventricle (the final pumping chamber of the heart). The valve ensures that blood keeps moving through the heart.
At the time of that successful procedure, Baker was just 27 years old. He had no idea that he would be undergoing the same procedure six years later.
Baker first began to experience heart problems when he was about 15 years old. One day, his heart began beating extremely fast and wouldn’t slow down. At the hospital, he learned he had premature heartbeats, which are extra, abnormal heartbeats.
“That was the first indicator something was wrong,” Baker said.
Doctors thought Baker may have suffered complications from rheumatic fever or was born without a valve. They monitored his condition but didn’t place him under any restrictions.
After graduating high school, Baker began an electrician apprenticeship. But a couple of years into it, Baker’s doctor told him he may need to find a desk job instead. Baker’s heart may not allow him to have such a physical career.
So Baker enrolled at the Vancouver Business College and got his degree in accounting and bookkeeping. In the late 1950s, he and Carol married. They had two children.
Baker lived an active life for many years, riding horses and playing basketball, before he began to experience pain in his chest.
In 1962, Baker’s physician sent him to the medical school to try to pinpoint a diagnosis. Finally, after years of uncertainty, Baker learned he had a diseased aortic valve.
The surgeon told Baker to go home and hold out for a valve replacement surgery for as long as possible. The Starr-Edwards valve had only been around two years; the program was still young, the doctor said. The longer Baker could wait, the better the odds of survival.
Baker followed the doctor’s advice, but by 1966, the Bakers knew it was time for the surgery.
Baker was running his own bookkeeping business and scheduled the surgery for May of 1966, after the tax season ended. Late that January, however, Baker had an episode that made surgery more urgent.
While driving to his Walnut Grove home, Baker was overwhelmed by pain in his chest. He pulled his car over and sat in a parking lot. Friends passing by saw Baker and pulled over to help.
He was rushed to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, where he stayed for about a week until the medical school had a surgery opening.
On Feb. 9, 1966, Baker had a Starr-Edwards valve placed in his heart. He spent a month in the hospital recovering from the procedure. Of the four people in Baker’s ward recovering from the procedure, Baker was the only one still alive in the ’70s.
“We were aware of how rare it was to survive this,” Carol Baker said. “No way around that.”
“We just didn’t dwell on it,” she added. “Once he got well, we just started living our life.”
Baker has been on a blood thinner since the procedure to prevent clots in the valve, and he’s had to undergo regular testing and medication monitoring. Still, Baker went on to live an active, healthy life.
“We’ve lived a very full life, and we hope to continue to do that,” Carol Baker said.
In the years since his surgery, Baker has seen Starr many times. He’s attended reunion events for the anniversaries of the Starr-Edwards valve, getting photos taken with the surgeon and other surviving patients.
Record-keepers at OHSU told Baker that of the early patients, he is one of three to still have the original valve. The other two had their valves placed in 1963 and 1965. But of the three, Baker is the oldest.
The Bakers had their own party Sunday to celebrate 50 years since the surgical procedure — a milestone nobody was ever sure Baker would see.
“Glenn did not want a party, but we said, ‘Tough,’ ” Carol Baker said. “We’ve lived through 50 years of this. We’re having a party.”
