WSBT: South Bend Man is Off Heart Transplant List Thanks to Ornish Lifestyle Medicine

Last July, doctors told David Foster, a 57-year-old Navy veteran and retired paramedic, that he needed a heart transplant.

His doctors told him that even with the transplant, he could only expect to live until 68. This was devastating and scary news given that he and his wife had an 8-month-old baby girl that they adopted as a newborn.

Ninety percent of patients who complete Ornish Lifestyle Medicine continue these lifestyle changes after a year

The Benefits of Ornish Lifestyle Medicine

After completing the Ornish Lifestyle Medicine program, which is now available at Memorial and Elkhart General hospitals, Foster is committed to his new lifestyle. His heart function, which included 100 blockages, has now improved to the point that he no longer needs a heart transplant.

“I had made up my mind then and there I was going to beat this thing,” Foster told WSBT News. “So I have never really thought about the dying. Not at all. I have thought about what I need to do to continue my life.”

Ninety percent of patients who complete the program continue these lifestyle changes after a year, according to research completed by Dr. Dean Ornish and his colleagues.

“We have all the high tech things that are required to treat heart disease, but this program I am sort of idiotically excited about, Dr. Fiedler, the Medical Director of the program, told WSBT. “It is a low tech way for people to really improve and reverse their heart disease.”

Watch the full story video here.