When trimming the hedges sucked the life out of Jackie Pearce, his wife Pat knew something was wrong.

“My wife had noticed I was getting tired when doing physical work, and she wanted to find out why,” says the 72-year-old from Tupelo.

In September 2023, Pat made an appointment for both of them to have a heart risk screening at Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi. The screening includes a CT calcium score, EKG and lipid profile to help identify a person’s risk for heart disease.

After the screening, nurse practitioner Chris Bell ordered an exercise stress test, but Jackie was not physically able to complete it. He was then scheduled for a nuclear stress test, which uses medication to increase blood flow and stress the heart like exercise does.

When he failed that test too, Jackie underwent cardiac catheterization at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Cardiac catheterization reveals important details about the heart muscle, heart valves and blood vessels in the heart.

“I found out that I was lucky to be here,” Jackie says. Cardiologist Dr. Steve Carroll discovered six arteries that were blocked from 80% to almost 100%.

On Oct. 2, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Vishal Sachdev performed coronary artery bypass surgery to create a new path for blood to flow around the six blocked arteries to the heart.

“That morning, Dr. Sachdev came in and I told him, ‘I’ve been praying for you,’ and he said, ‘I’ve been praying, too.’ Jackie has a lot of complications because of his diabetes, so we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Pat says. As anticipated, he did experience complications that required a second procedure.

“Dr. Sachdev stayed at the hospital until he knew Jackie was going to be okay,” Pat says. “From beginning to end, we felt like we were in good hands.”

Both Jackie and Pat had heart risk screening done 10 years earlier and were cleared. They know that repeating the screening last year saved Jackie’s life. “I had no idea that I was walking around the way I was,” Jackie says. “There was nothing to tell me that I had a problem, other than getting tired easily – and to me that wasn’t significant.”

Pat’s screening results were also surprising. “I found out that I had had a mild heart attack in the past,” she says. “I didn’t have a clue. (Nurse practitioner) Chris Bell recommended that I make an annual appointment to keep a check on things.”