With the swing of a bat, age is just a number to Wes Berkebile.
“I just enjoy the game. I have played softball in eight different decades,” Berkebile said.
A life fully lived as a retired pastor with his seven grandchildren and preparing for his next season 65 and over softball, but his heart put a stop to his next pitch.
“I went in for my checkup and the doctor said that murmur in your heart, we are going to have to do something about it. He ran some tests and he showed me how poorly the valve was actually working,” Berkebile said.
Berkebile told Channel 11 that he was able to undergo a transaortic valve replacement as part of a clinical trial and it was all done without ever having to open the chest.
“This is one of the few procedures we do that will actually improve survival over a short term,” said Dr. Ramzi Khalil with Allegheny Health Network.
Khalil said 50 percent of these patients will die within two years if you don’t take action, as cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the country. In that same year, Berkebile faced yet another challenge.
“Just a couple weeks before the surgery, I was playing softball catching and when I threw the ball to the pitcher I could feel a tightening in here,” Berkebile said.
It was pancreatic cancer. He underwent another surgery as doctors performed a Whipple procedure which is a complex surgery to cure the cancer. A surgery that wouldn’t be possible without that new heart valve.
“The actual transaortic valve procedure got him through a major life saving GI procedure to make sure his cancer wasn’t reoccurring,” Khalil said.
The procedure left this 84-year-old in good spirits, cancer free and ready to get back on the field and back to his family.
“I never had a minute’s pain through the whole thing, Berkebile said.
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