Innovative cardiac procedure at AdventHealth gets skier back on the lakes and slopes

As soon as the weather warms, you’ll find 67-year-old Gregg Lee out on the lake water skiing. A former competitive water skier, Lee hops on the lake and slopes every chance he gets. However, last winter this expert skier couldn’t catch his breath going down the first run of the day, a beginner slope, on vacation in Sun Valley, ID.

“I’ve heli-skied, I’ve extreme skied. I was skiing down a green run for beginners, it was as smooth as can be, and I was in distress.” - Gregg Lee, former competitive skier and TAVR patient

His wife, Clarice recalls the moment he called, “Something was off and wrong; we were both really scared.”

The episode eventually sent him to Dr. Kevin Accola, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the AdventHealth Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute, about a month later to have a Transcutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR procedure.

“I was scared, but I knew I was in the right place when I saw Dr. Accola and he gave me a big hug and told me, ‘I’m going to take good care of you.’ That was one of the most reassuring things, to have a physician care about his patient that much. I knew then that I would be OK.”

This procedure is still a relatively new innovation and is minimally invasive.

“We usually go in through the groin with a catheter, up through an artery and place a new valve inside the valve that no longer works in the heart," said Accola. “This procedure circumvents having open-heart surgery, reduces hospital stay and recovery time. It’s really an exciting technology and it’s here to stay.”

“This procedure was nothing. It’s short, one night in the hospital and home the next day and I could do it with minimal discomfort,” said Lee.

In Lee’s case, a little over two weeks later, was back out water skiing.

“At three weeks he sent us this photo (above),” Accola said. “I looked at it and said, ‘That’s interesting. Who’s that?’ My coworker said, ‘That’s Gregg.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ This guy is out there with this big wake and we (the team) got excited. That photo really impacted our whole team and what we were able to do for him. Not only fix his valve but get him back to who he was and at the level of athleticism that he wanted to have.”

Lee is one of the lucky ones. In 2022, 702,880 people died from heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the leading cause of death in American adults, with one person dying every 34 seconds.

He credits the AdventHealth team for saving his life and helping him maintain better quality of life for longer so he can spend time on the water with his family and grandkids.

“Dr. Accola gave me my life back. I still get to do the things I like to do. I don’t have to sit. I can be active,” said Lee. “It’s very humbling to have that taken away, so I feel very fortunate. I knew I was in the best of care.”

AdventHealth Orlando has been recently recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its 2024-2025 Best Hospitals rankings as high-performing in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) along with being named the No. 1 hospital in metro Orlando for 14 consecutive years – an achievement no other health system has reached.