Miracle isn't a word Eva Glassman uses lightly.

"What happened to me was absolutely a miracle — and it could not have happened anywhere else but Sunnybrook," she says, placing her hand to her heart.

The 87-year-old optician from North York is referring to her experience as one of the first people in Canada to undergo a new minimally invasive procedure on her heart to save her life.

Sunnybrook cardiologists are now using a novel technique to make the surgery for an aortic valve implant even safer for patients deemed otherwise inoperable.

"When I came to Sunnybrook, I could barely breathe. My heart was pumping fast, fast, fast, but blood wasn't going where it needed to go," says Eva. Her options were limited because her rapidly deteriorating aortic valve had a structural anomaly that would put her at risk of fatal complications with a traditional transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI).

"For a small group of patients like Eva, a traditional TAVI can push the leaflets of a diseased aortic valve upward into a position that could block blood flow to the heart," says Dr. Sam Radhakrishnan, director of the Cardiac Cath Labs and physician-lead of Sunnybrook's renowned TAVI program.

At least, that was the case before a new minimally invasive method was developed in the U.S. in late 2017. The novel TAVI valve-in-valve procedure uses an electrified wire no bigger than a sewing thread to split the leaflets, creating a triangle-shaped gap that lets blood flow freely to the heart's arteries after a TAVI is positioned. Most remarkably, this is all done using X-ray and ultrasound guidance.

Eva became the second person in Canada to benefit from the technique in October 2018. "I wasn't nervous, because I knew I would die within a few days, possibly hours, if I didn't do it," says Eva. "Dr. Radhakrishnan was so caring and attentive, I knew I was in good hands."

"I am happy I came to Sunnybrook because I am not sure what would have happened if I did not," says Eva. "I feel lucky to be alive."

Her son, Michael, waited outside the operating room for five hours as the TAVI team at the Schulich Heart Program performed the procedure.

"When I woke up, I could breathe again," says Eva. "The relief was immediate."

Within less than a month, Eva returned to work. Now she sings with her choir, and swims and does other physical activities three times a week. At home, surrounded by her four grandchildren, who range in age from 17 to 25, she says her heart "feels stronger than ever."