Complex Heart Surgery Nets James a Lifelong Friend

Jimmy Palma is a full-contact athlete, but a tear in his aorta nearly benched him for good. Thanks to heart surgery at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes, he’s back in the game.

Updated November 21, 2024

James Palma is an athletic guy. Even into his 60s, he’s running around the track, kickboxing, and playing full-contact football.

Aside from a few broken fingers and minor illnesses, James hadn’t needed much medical care. So, he wasn’t sure what to think on April 26, 2022, when he experienced a strange feeling in his chest.

“I went to get coffee and I felt an electric shock in the center of my chest. It was like a TENS unit when you go to the chiropractor,” said James, a construction contractor from Cherry Hill. “I walked outside, and everything looked like a snowstorm. I started feeling clammy. I called 911 and the ambulance took me to Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes.”

Trust He’s Going to Make It
Tests revealed James had a tear in the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body.

“I was finishing surgery when one of the staff came in and said we had an emergency. The question was, do we send him across the river, or do we help him here?” said Chun (Dan) Choi, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and Virtua vice president of cardiovascular clinical operations. “I said, ‘Let’s get the room ready and treat him here.’”

“I didn’t have time to get scared,” said James. “I said, ‘I’ve got to trust the people from Virtua that I’m going to make it’—and thank the good Lord I did.”

During a delicate surgery, Dr. Choi placed James on a heart-lung bypass machine and cooled his body to protect his brain and other organs. He removed the damaged section of James’ aorta and replaced it with a synthetic fabric tube, or graft.

“An ascending aorta tear like Jimmy’s is fairly common, and it tends to happen at the most inconvenient time of day. It could happen at 2 a.m. It could happen on your way to work. It could happen when you’re cooking dinner. It just happens suddenly and then you literally goes from living a normal life to having a life-threatening emergency,” said Dr. Choi.

‘A Friend for Life’
People who undergo aortic surgery are closely monitored through CT scans to see if the remainder of their aorta changes in size or shape, a process called remodeling. James’ aorta appeared to be growing, putting him at risk of an aneurysm.

That’s why, in October 2023, Virtua cardiothoracic surgeon Eden Payabyab, MD, and vascular surgeon Constantine Andrew, MD, performed a thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) to replace the remainder of James’ aorta.

Now healthy, James is back running around the track and spending quality time with his wife and six children.

“I’ll be honest with you, and this is from the bottom of my heart. Dr. Choi is the best. I mean, I get emotional when I talk about him because he’s so humble,” he said. “He’s definitely got a friend for life.”

Heart Care—Where and When You Need It Most
Virtua’s team of more than 100 cardiac experts provides comprehensive cardiac care, from medical cardiology to interventional procedures to advanced cardiac surgery. Appointments are available within 48 hours. Schedule an appointment online with a Virtua cardiologist.