An international Alzheimer’s advocate and motivational speaker, Brian Leblanc is always on the go.
But for two weeks in June he didn’t feel right. He had tightness in his chest and shoulders, and shortness of breath.
“I knew something was wrong, but you get busy with life and you put things off,” he said.
Fortunately, he already had a routine echocardiogram appointment scheduled at Ascension Sacred Heart Regional Heart and Vascular Institute, part of Ascension Florida. During his exam he made a comment to a technician, who passed along those concerns to cardiology nurse Dawn Filbert.
When he was checking out, Brian asked Dawn if he should make a follow-up appointment to have his symptoms checked out.
“Dawn told me, ‘No, you need to go straight to the emergency room,’” he said. “She walked me all the way down to the emergency room.”
An angiogram performed in the ER identified three blocked arteries. Brian was admitted to the hospital and the next day he underwent a procedure to clear his arteries – coronary artery bypass grafting.
“There’s no telling where I would be today without Dawn’s awareness,” he said. “There’s a saying that everything happens for a reason. I am so thankful that she was my nurse that day; she saved my life!”
“It puts a big smile on my face,” Dawn said. “I’m also glad to see an improvement in Brian’s attitude about his health.”
