Heart of the Zags patient gives thanks to Pulse doctor and donors
Spokane resident Ben Olson will always remember walking out on the floor of McCarthey Athletic Center in 2019. Surrounded by members of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, he listened to all the voices in the crowd cheering him on, including those of his family and colleagues from Gee Automotive.
“I wish I would’ve looked at my heart rate going out on that floor because I don’t think it mattered what workouts I did — my heart was fluttering,” Ben says.
During every Gonzaga men’s home basketball game, the Heart of the Zags program highlights a MultiCare Pulse Heart Institute patient like Ben.
“Kevin James is the announcer who tells your story, and I guess it was more emotional than anything,” Ben recalls. “It was a very cool experience to have my co-workers, my brother, his wife and my parents there to be a part of it.”
Lifesaving care at heart institute, part of nonprofit health system
For Ben, it had been an ordinary morning on January 16, 2019, when his chest suddenly went cold.
“It was probably 6:30am when I went down to the treadmill to run,” he recalls. “I came back upstairs to let my dog outside. When I came back inside it felt like really cold air on the chest. I sat on the couch, tried to get rid of it, but it wouldn’t go away. It didn’t matter what position I put myself into. I said, ‘I think I need to go to the hospital. This doesn’t feel right.’”
Ben and his wife headed to MultiCare Valley Hospital, where an electrocardiogram (EKG) indicated he was having a heart attack. Ben’s team at Valley immediately rushed him by ambulance to Pulse at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital for an emergency procedure.
“Pictures of the heart arteries were obtained, and we quickly visualized the problem — a critical narrowing in a major heart artery known as ‘the widow-maker,’” Ben’s doctor Joel Galloway, MD explains. “A rapid placement of a stent aborted the potentially fatal heart attack.”
At just 33, Ben had suffered a life-threatening heart attack. But thanks to Dr. Galloway and his expert team at Pulse, the triathlete, husband and father is alive today.
Ben with his wife and little girl, now 7 months.
“Dr. Galloway has been phenomenal through this process,” Ben reflects. “My mother also has heart disease and has had two heart attacks since I had mine — Dr. Galloway is her cardiologist, too. To him, we’re not just patients, and we’re not numbers. He wants to know how things are going and how he can help.”
Ben is one of many who have benefited from local community investments in cardiac innovation and advancement. Donations to Pulse through the MultiCare Inland Northwest Foundation help save lives and support better heart health.
“It’s important to have excellent cardiac care anywhere you live, and those of us in the Inland Northwest are quite lucky to have health care systems that offer state-of-the-art cardiology care,” Dr. Galloway says. “Pulse is an amazing organization that brought its concept to Spokane four years ago. Donor dollars have helped enable its physicians to make great strides in the quality of cardiovascular care offered in the Spokane region.”
Ben also adds his thanks to those who have donated to the heart institute.
“Supporting people like us is appreciated,” he says. “We all have a story, and we all have a purpose. Thank you, Pulse donors.”
Your gift to MultiCare Pulse Heart Institute helps fund advances in cardiac care, education and research, along with improving outcomes for patients like Ben. Donate today at give.multicare.org/pulse.
