Words from the heart about family’s cardiac care journey

Amanpreet Jolly understood her father’s mitral valve repair was supposed to be routine, but she also knew no surgery was without risk, especially one involving the heart.

A few days after the surgery, Amanpreet’s father, Ashok Jolly, suffered a post-operative stroke and a cascade of complications. The eldest of three siblings, she rushed to his side at UHN’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre to find him speaking unintelligibly, the right side of his face weakened.

“It was a really difficult time,” recalls Amanpreet of the scene in 2018, when she was 18. “There was one night we thought he wasn’t going to make it.”

But Dr. Terrence Yau, cardiovascular surgeon at the Peter Munk, sat at Ashok’s bedside with the family one evening, offering “a genuine sense of hope that was a real comfort,” says Amanpreet.

Dr. Yau says “Mr. Jolly underwent complex valve surgery, which was unfortunately complicated by a postoperative stroke.”

The patient required a second surgery, which was performed by Dr. Yau.

“Eventually he was able to go to a rehabilitation facility to focus on his neurologic recovery and from there go home to his family,” Dr. Yau says.

Amanpreet, who acted as the main correspondent between the care team and her mother, Sukhwinder, a native Punjabi speaker, says the family was warned their father might never walk again.

“We were persistent. We refused to give up and so did he,” Amanpreet says. “Today, he’s walking. He even likes to show off by not using his cane.”

Inspired by her father’s care journey, which was more than a year from his initial surgery until he returned home to his family, Amanpreet has created Orta and Sparky, a children’s book.

Described online as “a heartfelt tale” it’s about a young boy and his beloved companion, Sparky, a phoenix who encounters cardiac issues, which leads them to “set off to on a journey to find help, discovering unexpected truths along the way.”

A collaborative project with classmates at Ontario Tech University, who helped co-author and illustrate the book, its intended as a helpful resource for children and their parents to support healing and emotional coping. She plans to donate copies of Orta and Sparky to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

“I’ve always been interested in science and the body,” says Amanpreet, who completed a bachelor of science and is hoping to attend medical school. “Going through this experience with my dad, I didn’t want to stop at lay-person terms, I wanted to understand the ‘whys’ of what happened.”

Sunday, Sept. 29 is World Heart Day, which provides an opportunity for the World Health Organization and its member states to join the global call to raise awareness about heart health and accelerate actions to prevent, detect and manage cardiovascular diseases.

For Amanpreet, her ultimate goal is to be a pillar of support for others during challenging moments.

“I’ll always remember that night in the ICU when Dr. Yau came to sit with us,” she says. “I want to be able to support people like that, to have the knowledge and expertise to give people hope.

“Going through this experience solidified my passion for medicine – mainly because of Dr. Yau and his team. I am forever grateful.”

Purchase a copy of Orta and Sparky