Blogger Transforms Heart Surgery Into Inspiration

El Segundo, CA, July 17, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Each year, the American Heart Association projects that 700,000 open heart surgeries procedures are performed to treat heart disease in the United States.

For most patients, the decision to have heart surgery is accompanied by feelings of fear, uncertainty and doubt.

However, Adam Pick, a thirty-seven year old analyst, from Los Angeles, California, chose to transform his open-heart surgery experience into an inspirational platform for patients and caregivers.

“When you think about it,” Pick stated in an interview, “Heart surgery is a medical miracle that offers patients a second chance at life. I use my blog to communicate that point.”

Three years after its launch, Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog has become one of the leading heart surgery websites on the planet. According to Internet traffic reports, Pick’s blog, located at http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/, will be visited by more than one million patients, caregivers, nurses, cardiologists and surgeons in 2009.

“When I started the blog, I had no idea what I was doing,” notes Pick, who is married with a newborn son. “I just had a burning desire to help future patients better understand the realities of heart valve surgery.”

Like many patients, Pick struggled with several issues during his recovery from a complex aortic valve replacement operation. In his blog and book, The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, Pick writes about the physical and emotional pitfalls of cardiac surgery that can include sternum pain, cardiac depression and pain pill addiction.

“The more I wrote about my experiences,” Pick stated, “The more I learned that I wasn’t alone. There were patients all over the world with similar issues, similar challenges and similar stories.”

Soon thereafter, Pick began featuring other patient success stories on his website. To date, more than 100 inspirational patient stories are posted at Pick’s blog.

“I really don’t believe I had anything to do with the blog’s success,” Pick concluded, “My gut tells me it was the patient stories... Those stories radiate empowerment, education, communication and, most importantly, inspiration.”

Adam Pick is a double heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient's Guide to Heart Valve Surgery which has sold in over 65 countries around the world. Mr. Pick founded www.Heart-Valve-Surgery.com to help patients and their caregivers better understand the challenges, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve replacement and heart valve repair surgery from the patient perspective. This unique website provides over 1,950 pages of complimentary information (videos, patient stories, recovery tips, clinical research) to support patients with heart valve diseases including aortic stenosis, mitral valve prolapse and tricuspid regurgitation. Mr. Pick's work is often referenced by leading surgeons at The Cleveland Clinic, the University of Southern California Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital.

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