Innovative Heart Failure Device Helps Lawrence Woman Return to Doing What She Loves

When Debbie O’Neal was diagnosed with heart failure at 75, she feared her life was ending. She was the same age that her mother had been when she died of heart disease.

Debbie started noticing an issue in December 2023 when she was walking to a basketball game and had a hard time catching her breath. She had been dealing with a cough for a couple of weeks but never thought that it could be related to her heart.

That Monday, she went to her local doctor in Lawrence and had labs drawn. Later that evening, her doctor’s office called with concerns about her lab results and urged her to go to the Emergency Department.

At the local hospital, she underwent additional testing and imaging. Later that week, Debbie met with a cardiologist and learned she had heart failure. 

Her heart’s ejection fraction—the percentage of blood the heart pumps with each beat—had dropped significantly. It was down from a normal range of 60% to only about 25–30%. Her cardiologist prescribed medication and cardiac rehab, but she only saw minor improvements. 

“I’ve always been very active and am on the go a lot,” Debbie said. “But by that point, I could do nothing but rest.”

She asked her doctor if they could do anything else, but was told that was all they could do for her because of her low blood pressure. She wondered how much time she had left with her family.

Knowing the importance of being her own advocate, Debbie decided to get a second opinion from the heart failure team at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute. 

She met with cardiologist Andrew Sauer, MD, and shared her doctors had told her there was nothing else they could do.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Oh, there are all kinds of things we can do for you,’” Debbie recalls. “The first step was to find out the cause.

“When we left that appointment, my husband and I looked at each other and I said, ‘We’re in the right place.’” 

Debbie got an MRI and underwent genetic testing, which showed she had two gene mutations. 

“One of Debbie’s gene mutations is strongly associated with an increased risk of developing familial dilated cardiomyopathy—a condition that weakens the heart’s ability to pump blood to the body, which can lead to heart failure,” said Dr. Sauer. “This gene mutation has been shown to be a ‘super responder’ to an innovative treatment called cardiac contractility modulation.”

Cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) is a therapy that uses precisely timed electrical pulses to improve the heart’s pumping function through an implanted device.

After some thought and consideration, Debbie decided to move forward with CCM. Daniel Steinhaus, MD, a cardiologist who specializes in electrophysiology at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, performed the minimally invasive procedure to implant the CCM device in September 2024.

Since her procedure, Debbie’s ejection fraction has returned to near normal range. She has noticed a drastic improvement in her symptoms and was able to go on a trip with friends just one month later before enjoying the holidays with her family. She’s back to practicing yoga and participating in her Silver Sneakers group. 

Through genetic testing, her first-line family members were also able to learn if they had the genetic condition to better understand how to prevent and treat heart disease themselves.

Debbie wants others to know the importance of being your own health advocate after going through her health journey.

“If you’re questioning your care at all, you need to seek a second opinion,” Debbie said. “Everyone should know what treatment options are out there before accepting that nothing else can be done.”

Learn more about the heart failure team and specialized treatment options at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute.