FELONIOUS ASSAULT AND TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE. IN OTHER NEWS, NOW, FEBRUARY IS HEART HEALTH MONTH, AND WE’RE TELLING STORIES OF LOCAL HEART DISEASE SURVIVORS. AFTER THREE OPEN HEART SURGERIES AND MULTIPLE SEIZURES. BOB SEYMOUR WAS TOLD BY MULTIPLE DOCTORS THAT PERFORMING ANOTHER HEART PROCEDURE WAS IMPOSSIBLE. THAT WAS UNTIL ONE DOCTOR AT CHRIST’S HOSPITAL STEPPED UP. ASHLEY KIRKLEN HAS THE STORY. TODAY, AT 70 YEARS OLD AND THREE MAJOR HEART SURGERIES LATER, BOB SEYMOUR IS A WALKING MIRACLE. I WAS LUCKY TO BE ALIVE AFTER THAT, AND I LOST MY LEG AND LOST SOME TOES ON THE OTHER FOOT. BOB WAS JUST 49 WHEN HIS HEART PROBLEMS FIRST BEGAN TO IMPACT HIS HEALTH, AND HE HAD HIS FIRST OPEN HEART SURGERY 15 YEARS LATER. THAT REPLACEMENT VALVE WORE OUT AND HE HAD ANOTHER HEART SURGERY A YEAR AFTER THAT. HE HAD ENDOCARDITIS, AN INFECTION IN HIS HEART. I GOT VERY, VERY SICK AND I WAS JUST I THINK I WAS ONLY A A DAY OR SO MAYBE FROM DYING FROM THIS. THE LAST OF HIS THREE OPEN HEART SURGERIES WAS COMPLICATED, LEAVING BOB WITHOUT AN ARTERY TO ONE SIDE OF HIS HEART. HE CAME TO ME. WHAT HAPPENED WAS THIS BYPASS GRAFT WAS GONE. SO NOW HE HAD. ONLY VERY INDIRECT BLOOD FLOW FILLING THAT THIS BYPASS GRAFT, IT TURNS OUT INSTEAD OF GOING TO THE MAIN, WENT TO A BRANCH VESSEL. AND THIS WAS 99% BLOCKED HERE. DOCTOR JARED FRIZZELL, NO STRANGER TO UNUSUAL CASES, CAME UP WITH A CLEVER WAY TO GET BOB’S HEART WORKING PROPERLY WITHOUT CRACKING OPEN HIS CHEST AGAIN. SO WHAT I DID WAS I TOOK A WIRE AND I WENT DOWN THIS GRAPH THAT WAS OPEN BACK UP THIS WAY INTO THE STUMP USING A STENT PROCEDURE, FRIZZELL WAS ABLE TO CUT THROUGH SCAR TISSUE, MAKING ARTERIES USING A SPECIAL TECHNIQUE CALLED ELECTROCAUTERY, ALLOWING BLOOD TO FLOW NORMALLY TO BOB’S HEART. FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN TOLD THERE’S NO OPTIONS, THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO. YOU’RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO LIVE WITH YOUR ANGINA, YOUR CHEST PRESSURE, YOUR SHORTNESS OF BREATH, FEELING TIRED ALL THE TIME. WE’VE GOT WAYS AROUND THAT. AND THAT WAS OUR ASHLEY KIRKLEN REPORTING LIVE. BOB IS DOING GREAT AFTER THIS PROCEDURE. IN FACT, HE WAS ABLE TO ACTUALLY GO HIKING ONE WEEK LATER.
Heart disease survivor undergoes groundbreaking procedure at Christ Hospital
Updated: 11:36 AM EST Feb 23, 2026
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Bob Siemer, a heart disease survivor, defied medical expectations by undergoing a groundbreaking procedure at Christ Hospital after multiple doctors deemed further heart surgery impossible.At 70 years old, Siemer is considered a walking miracle after surviving three major heart surgeries. “I was lucky to be alive after that. Lost my leg and lost and toes on the other foot,” Siemer said.Siemer’s heart problems began affecting his health at 49, leading to his first open-heart surgery. Fifteen years later, the replacement valve wore out, necessitating another surgery. A year after that, he developed endocarditis, an infection in his heart. “I got very, very sick and I was just I think I was only a day or so, maybe from dying from this,” Siemer said.The last of his three open-heart surgeries was complicated, leaving Siemer without an artery to one side of his heart. “When he came to me, this bypass graft was gone. So, now he had only very indirect blood flow, filling this bypass graft. It turns out instead of going to the main, went to a branch vessel, and this was 99% blocked here,” Jarrod Frizzell, director of Complex Coronary Therapeutics at Christ Hospital, explained.Frizzell, known for handling unusual cases, devised a clever method to restore Siemer’s heart function without reopening his chest. “So, what I did was I took a wire and I went down this graph that was open back up this way and into this stump,” Frizzell said.Using a stent procedure, Frizzell cut through scar tissue and created arteries using a special technique called electrocautery, allowing normal blood flow to Siemer’s heart arteries. “For people that have been told there’s no options, there’s nothing we can do. You’re just going to have to live with your angina, your chest pressure, your shortness of breath, feeling tired all the time, we’ve got ways around that,” Frizzell said.Siemer is doing remarkably well after the procedure, even going hiking one week later. This case was later published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Bob Siemer, a heart disease survivor, defied medical expectations by undergoing a groundbreaking procedure at Christ Hospital after multiple doctors deemed further heart surgery impossible.
At 70 years old, Siemer is considered a walking miracle after surviving three major heart surgeries.
“I was lucky to be alive after that. Lost my leg and lost and toes on the other foot,” Siemer said.
Siemer’s heart problems began affecting his health at 49, leading to his first open-heart surgery. Fifteen years later, the replacement valve wore out, necessitating another surgery. A year after that, he developed endocarditis, an infection in his heart.
“I got very, very sick and I was just I think I was only a day or so, maybe from dying from this,” Siemer said.
The last of his three open-heart surgeries was complicated, leaving Siemer without an artery to one side of his heart.
“When he came to me, this bypass graft was gone. So, now he had only very indirect blood flow, filling this bypass graft. It turns out instead of going to the main, went to a branch vessel, and this was 99% blocked here,” Jarrod Frizzell, director of Complex Coronary Therapeutics at Christ Hospital, explained.
Frizzell, known for handling unusual cases, devised a clever method to restore Siemer’s heart function without reopening his chest.
“So, what I did was I took a wire and I went down this graph that was open back up this way and into this stump,” Frizzell said.
Using a stent procedure, Frizzell cut through scar tissue and created arteries using a special technique called electrocautery, allowing normal blood flow to Siemer’s heart arteries.
“For people that have been told there’s no options, there’s nothing we can do. You’re just going to have to live with your angina, your chest pressure, your shortness of breath, feeling tired all the time, we’ve got ways around that,” Frizzell said.
Siemer is doing remarkably well after the procedure, even going hiking one week later. This case was later published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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