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Elroy's Story

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Heart Transplant

Temple heart transplant patient, Elroy, reading to his granddaughter

A Failing Heart

For Elroy, a special moment is reading his granddaughter her favorite story, or getting out on the court to teach his grandsons how to shoot a jump shot. A few years ago, Elroy had a heart attack, then another one. His heart was failing.

“My dad cares deeply for my children and my family.” says his daughter, Vanessa. “Knowing that we might lose him was like being hit with a ton of bricks.”

The heart attacks severely damaged and narrowed the arteries around Elroy’s heart. His doctors in Harrisburg realized they could no longer help him and recommended that he go to the Temple Heart & Vascular Institute.

The Surgeons. The Technology. The Experience

His Temple heart failure specialist quickly determined that he needed a heart transplant to survive. Not long after he was listed, Yoshiya Toyoda, MD, performed the heart transplant that got Elroy back to his family.

“Temple had the surgeons, the technology, the experience. They had the care my dad and my entire family needed. All of that together made us feel very comfortable and confident. Temple did things for us that other places couldn’t do.”

Temple had the surgeons, the technology, the experience. They had the care my dad and my entire family needed.

Vanessa, Elroy’s Daughter

Today, Elroy is there for his family’s special moments. He saw Vanessa receive her Master’s degree and his oldest grandson graduate from high school. He cannot wait to be there for all of his family’s future milestones.