Carl and Janis: Team Approach to Renown's Healthy Heart Program

By: Renown Wellness Team

March 29, 2017

carl and janis talking on couch

Meet a couple that's all heart. After each had a heart attack one year apart, they committed to Renown's new Healthy Heart Program and support each other along the road to heart health.

Almost a year to the day that Janis VanHorn had a heart attack, her partner, Carl Edson, had one too. 

"That kind of doubled the dose of making sure that we were doing everything that we could to continue with our life," VanHorn says. "It's a very life-altering thing.”

And after Edson's quadruple bypass open heart surgery, he was grateful for the simple act of getting into the car with the woman he loves. "I was so relieved," he says. "I didn't realize how precious life was until that moment."

The couple see the same cardiologist, Richard Seher, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, who recommended they participate in Renown's new Healthy Heart Program, a 12-week, 36-visit intensive cardiac rehabilitation curriculum that includes monitored exercising and cooking classes.

Now they're both familiar faces at the program, which is located at the Renown South Meadows Medical Center.

After several weeks, Edson says he has lost 10 pounds and VanHorton has lost inches and feels more toned. Tackling the program together has brought the couple closer and given them the opportunity to fuel one another's health goals and longevity. "I would be lost without this man," VanHorn says," and anything I can do to help him live longer, I'm going to do that."

Edson adds, "She is to me my whole life, and I mean that sincerely. There's no one else I can turn to that has helped me in my life as she has, and I'm just trying to return the favor in a big-time way. She is my everything."

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