Becoming the Long-Term Data: 5 Years After My EVOQUE Tricuspid Valve (TTVR) and What Comes Next

January 2026 marks the start of my fifth year living with the EVOQUE tricuspid valve, which I received through the TRISCEND II early-feasibility clinical trial, a study testing a treatment that wasn’t yet approved by the FDA.It will also be my final year in the study.

“This isn’t the end of my story, it’s a milestone.”

I’m sharing where I am now, five years after receiving my EVOQUE tricuspid valve, because patients deserve to see the journey in real time, not just the before and after.

❤️‍🩹 When Hope Nearly Faded

Five years ago, my heart was failing.My tricuspid valve, one of the four valves in the heart, wasn’t closing the way it should. Blood was leaking backward instead of moving forward. I was swollen, out of breath, and exhausted.

Because open-heart surgery wasn’t an option and medications weren’t helping, I was placed in hospice. It felt like the end of the road, like I was running out of time and choices.

But even then, a small part of me held on.Hope got quiet, almost faded, but it never left.

🚪 A Door Opens

Then, something unexpected happened. I was offered a chance, one that would change everything.

It was an opportunity to receive a new type of valve through a procedure called TTVR (Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Replacement).

Unlike open-heart surgery, TTVR is done through a thin tube called a catheter, usually through a vein in the groin. The new valve is guided into place and expanded inside the old, leaky one.

I was scared, but I said yes, not because I was brave, but because I wanted to live.

🫀 Five Years Later: What the Numbers Don’t Show

Five years later, I’m still here, living, learning, and showing what’s possible.

When I had my procedure, doctors only had short-term results of one or two years of data. No one knew how long this new valve would last. Now, patients like me are the data.

Here’s what I’ve seen: 

✅ My valve is still working well in follow-ups. 

✅ My swelling, shortness of breath, and fatigue are gone or much better. 

✅ My quality of life is better than anyone expected, even me!

“This is what long-term data really looks like. It’s not just numbers on a page, it’s people like me, living proof that innovation and hope can change the story.”

💪 What Comes Next

Building HeartBridge Collective (HBC): Creating a trusted home for education, mentorship, and peer support.

Expanding Mentorship: Training 50 mentors to walk beside other patients and caregivers.

Sharing Real-World Living: Working with researchers to show what long-term life with a TTVR looks like.

Collaborating for Inclusion: Through my work with HeartBridge Collective, and as an ambassador for Heart Valve Voice US and affiliate of Global Heart Hub, I’m helping patients, doctors, and researchers make sure patient voices shape how research and care evolve.

Telling Stories That Inspire: Through my podcast Heart2Heart Talk, I’ll keep sharing stories about what comes after survival.

Healing is more than a working valve; it’s about finding confidence, connection, and purpose again.

🌱 Why This Matters

There isn’t 10- or 15-year data for TTVR yet, but that’s okay.People like me are helping create it. Every test, every update, every story adds to the bigger picture.

“When I say I’m becoming the long-term data, I mean it. I’m living proof that innovation and hope can change a prognosis.”

❤️ To Patients and Caregivers

If you’ve ever heard the words, “There’s nothing more we can do,” I know the ache that follows.

I remember what it felt like to watch hope slip through my fingers, to wonder if my story was already over.

But it wasn’t.

If you’re waiting for the data before believing there’s hope, remember this: every piece of data starts with a person.

Someone has to be the first chapter, the one who shows the world what’s possible.

Five years later, I’m still here proof of what’s possible when hope meets innovation.I’m turning that survival into purpose so others can see that hope isn’t a finish line, it’s a bridge.

📣 Here’s to the next five years, to mentorship, medicine, and moments that remind us we’re more than statistics.  

Because sometimes, the data isn’t numbers at all.  It's us.

#HospiceSurvivor #HeartValveDisease #TTVR #EVOQUE #HeartBridgeCollective #Heart2HeartTalk #PatientVoice #SelfAdvocacy #ClinicalTrials #Data