The clinician who became the patient.
The Open Heart Coach is written from both sides of the sternal scar — twenty-five years of clinical Physical Therapy, a lifetime of coaching and running, and the lived experience of open-heart surgery. The coach and the cardiac athlete are the same person.
My father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. That loss sent me to my doctor — not because I felt sick, but because grief has a way of forcing you to face the things you have been quietly ignoring. The workup found aortic stenosis — moderate at first. A condition to watch, not yet one to fear.
On May 19, 2025 — my father's birthday — I went in for my annual echocardiogram. It had progressed. Moderate to severe. The surgery I had quietly feared was now a reality I had to face. It was hard to take. But the athlete in me took over before the fear could. I realized I had to prepare — not wait.
On July 3, 2025, I met with Dr. Jordan Bloom. The path was clear: a Ross Procedure was in my future — a complex but transformative operation that uses your own pulmonary valve to replace the diseased aortic valve. A living valve. A better valve.
As a Physical Therapist of 25 years, I had performed prehabilitation on countless patients before their surgeries. But when I looked for a formal prehab program built for open heart surgery — one for the cardiac patient specifically — I found nothing. The path became clear: use my skills as a PT, a coach, and a runner to prepare for the race of my life.
On February 25, 2026, Dr. Bloom gave me that new valve. Fifty-six days later, I was on a treadmill. Not because I got lucky. Because I prepared. That is what spurred my new calling — to become The Open Heart Coach and build Back2RUN. Not a program for runners. A program for every cardiac athlete who is going to compete in the race of their life, and the race beyond it.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a vital part of the journey — and The Open Heart Coach surrounds it. I coach you in the weeks before surgery when the training window is most powerful, carry you through the gap between hospital discharge and your first rehab session, and continue your development long after formal rehab concludes. This methodology fuses twenty-five years of clinical Physical Therapy expertise with the lived vulnerability of the sternal scar. A coach who has crossed both bridges knows exactly which mile of this marathon is hardest — because he just ran it.