Shownotes
Hey Heart Buddies! I'm Boots Knighton, your guide through our special holiday series, "Hope for the Holidays." Today, we're revisiting a truly inspiring story that embodies resilience and hope in its purest form. Our guest is none other than Bill Wingate, a remarkable individual hailing from Birmingham, Alabama. Bill’s journey is a testament to the human spirit, having endured four major open-heart surgeries, seven heart valve replacements, and numerous other procedures over 27 years.
In this episode, Bill opens up about the emotional, mental, and spiritual challenges he faced, especially after his most recent surgery in early 2023. He shares how hope, love, and gratitude have been his guiding lights through the darkest days.
But that’s not all—Bill has a special message for all of us about the power of hope and living life fully, no matter the hand you’ve been dealt. You'll also hear about his exciting new writing project, which aims to inspire others through heartfelt stories.
Listen to his original episode here.
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Join the Patreon Community! The Joyful Beat zoom group is where you'll find connection and hope that you aren't alone in your journey.
If you just want to support the show as a one-time gift (thank you), go here.
**I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Be sure to check in with your care team about all the next right steps for you and your heart.**
How to connect with Boots
Email: Boots@theheartchamberpodcast.com
Instagram: @openheartsurgerywithboots or @boots.knighton
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/boots-knighton
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Mentioned in this episode:
Heart Valve Voice-US
Check out Heart Valve Voice - US, an incredible resource for heart valve patients in the US and abroad.
Transcripts
Life is still good. People are inherently
Speaker:amazing and just because something happens to
Speaker:you doesn't mean that you were wronged. This the hand that you have been
Speaker:dealt. Play it because this is your journey in life and there are
Speaker:going to be some amazing parts of it. Enjoy it.
Speaker:Welcome to Open Heart Surgery with Boots and our
Speaker:special holiday series, Hope for the
Speaker:Holidays. Ta da. I'm Boots Knighton, and
Speaker:this season we're revisiting some of our most inspiring
Speaker:stories. Guests who faced daunting heart
Speaker:surgeries and have beaten the odds and are
Speaker:now thriving reminders of resilience and
Speaker:hope. This series is our way of celebrating
Speaker:not only their strength, but also showcasing
Speaker:that hope is possible for all of us in times
Speaker:of struggle. If you love the podcast,
Speaker:please consider joining our Patreon community. You can find
Speaker:us at patreon.com
Speaker:openheartsurgerywithboots that will help keep this
Speaker:podcast on the air and these stories coming. Of
Speaker:course I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, your
Speaker:concerns, your best recipes for
Speaker:holiday cookies, whatever feels good to you. I want to hear from
Speaker:you. You can send me an email
Speaker:bootsheartchamber podcast.com
Speaker:without further ado, I'm so excited to bring you today's
Speaker:guest and I can't wait to hear from you. Welcome back
Speaker:to another episode of Open Heart Surgery with Boots. I
Speaker:am so thrilled to be doing this series of Hope
Speaker:for the Holidays where I am bringing back
Speaker:guests that have been on the podcast kind of really from the
Speaker:beginning. I'm going way back into
Speaker:2023. Of course, that's not very long ago, but it
Speaker:feels like it when I put out an episode every single week.
Speaker:And this week I wanted to bring back Bill Wingate
Speaker:from Birmingham, Alabama. And Bill, thank you so
Speaker:much for coming back. You have just become such a great heart
Speaker:buddy of mine. And I want to also call
Speaker:out Bill and thank Bill publicly for financially supporting
Speaker:this podcast, for sending me words of
Speaker:encouragement, and for just meeting me with grace as I fumble
Speaker:through this learning curve that is hosting a podcast.
Speaker:And so one of the reasons why I keep showing up every
Speaker:week are for people like Bill. And I think
Speaker:that once you hear his quick update on how he's
Speaker:doing, you will feel the same. So, Bill, welcome
Speaker:back, my friend. Well, Boots, thank you for the opportunity yet again
Speaker:to join you and talk with you and as well
Speaker:as people who listen to this who are also heart patients, because
Speaker:there are an awful lot of us around and it's not something that you
Speaker:usually don't find them in your everyday life. So it's great for you. You've
Speaker:built this community to where it is now. Thank you. Thank you. So
Speaker:give us the 50,000 foot view of. And I should
Speaker:say before you do that, listeners, I am going to have his original
Speaker:episode in the show notes. And holy cow, is it
Speaker:worth listening to. He did such an incredible job when
Speaker:we recorded his episode of telling his story. So do consider
Speaker:going back and listening to that. But Bill, give us again like
Speaker:the Cliff Notes of the last 27 years. Well,
Speaker:the past 27 years I have been a substantial
Speaker:heart patient. I was in College in 1997 and learned
Speaker:that I had aortic stenosis and regurgitation, which several
Speaker:months after I learned this information led me to my
Speaker:first of four, as of today, open heart surgeries.
Speaker:And so in these past 27 years, I've had a total load, as I
Speaker:said, four opens. I've had seven heart valves replaced,
Speaker:I've had numerous heart caps, I've had all kinds
Speaker:of crazy test and procedures done. I've had from blood
Speaker:issues to unusual infections from
Speaker:the dental office. So it has been a long
Speaker:run of highs and lows. And I feel
Speaker:like at this point I've gotten to be a really good patient. And
Speaker:I had a heart surgeon look at me after my last surgery saying, you've got
Speaker:to find a new hobby. Open heart surgery is not the best one for you.
Speaker:So hopefully we're on a run that I don't have to do it again. So
Speaker:is the hope and the prayer. So that's what we are hoping for.
Speaker:And so that's, that's my story in a nutshell. And seven valves,
Speaker:four opens, and a lot of other junk to go along the way. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:junk is right. But here you are and you're doing great. Like
Speaker:looking at you through the screen, you would never know that you
Speaker:have been on the adventure that you've been on. So
Speaker:where you're at now, where do you stand
Speaker:emotionally, spiritually, mentally?
Speaker:That's a, that's a great question because I had my last surgery in
Speaker:January of 2023 and that one
Speaker:did a lot more damage to me
Speaker:mentally or and emotionally than I would even say physically.
Speaker:The, the physical recovery was, I'll describe it as typical to the rest of
Speaker:mine. Um, it wasn't bad. It was a couple months and you
Speaker:felt pretty good. Emotionally, I was a mess. It took a
Speaker:while. And just the gravity of four major surgeries
Speaker:and all the anesthesia and all the weird
Speaker:one offs that have really. That I've survived hit me
Speaker:hard and I started a writing project during this
Speaker:time trying to figure out how to tell my story. And it's evolved over the
Speaker:past year and a half. But it all comes down to where all
Speaker:my current work is. And it's all about telling stories of
Speaker:hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do. And with those
Speaker:three values, you can get through almost anything and it changes your
Speaker:perspective on everything that you do. And so that has really
Speaker:helped me get through the emotional hurdles of the past
Speaker:20 plus years, 27 years now. But it's, it's a work in progress
Speaker:every day and it's a great opportunity that I have and I want to be
Speaker:sure to share, share it as I go along. And we'll have that in the
Speaker:show notes too. And what has
Speaker:been the common thread through the 27
Speaker:years that has been maybe the most
Speaker:supportive or most helpful for you? For me, it
Speaker:is, it is having hope and everything all
Speaker:constantly around me and having hope for what is to come next because there
Speaker:have been times where it couldn't have gotten any worse. And then being
Speaker:grateful for everything that is around you and everything that
Speaker:you get to experience. And yes, I've had
Speaker:heart surgery. I've had it more than once. But that's
Speaker:okay. The sun will come up tomorrow. I have, I have all
Speaker:the hope in the world that the sun will come up tomorrow. Tomorrow will be
Speaker:a be a better day. And some days they're
Speaker:not, but most days they are. And that is what matters.
Speaker:The days that you don't have hope or the darker days,
Speaker:what gets you. Through the day on those days, I've just got to
Speaker:cut myself a little bit more slack and I've got to be a little more
Speaker:patient with myself. And after all that I've, I've been
Speaker:through so far, I do have days that are like I physically
Speaker:don't feel as good as I did the day before. And generally it's something
Speaker:that I've done. I've burned the candle at both ends. I've gotten a pearly state
Speaker:up late, done something I shouldn't have done, or I don't have the physical stamina
Speaker:that I, a typical 48 year old would have. But then again, I am almost
Speaker:50, so we can debate that in multiple different ways. But
Speaker:I've got to be nicer to myself. And I've got to say, okay,
Speaker:today's not going to be the day that I'm going to get 25 things on
Speaker:my to do list done. I'm going to be happy with 10. And so I've
Speaker:got to, I've just got to reframe the day and reframe the expectations. And
Speaker:I'm very grateful that my daughter and my wife, they understand that.
Speaker:Yeah. And so some days, some days are better than others and I'm. But
Speaker:I'm very thankful these days that there are
Speaker:much, much more good days than there are not so good
Speaker:days. And that that feeling,
Speaker:an act of hope is everything, isn't it? An act of
Speaker:hope is everything. And that has really
Speaker:become apparent to me over the past couple of weeks because
Speaker:at the end of September I had my routine follow up with my surgeon, which
Speaker:I had been doing over the past 10 years. We had been doing a,
Speaker:a check in or a follow up scan every three, four
Speaker:or six months. And so for the first time in 10 years, I get to
Speaker:go an entire year between CT scans and
Speaker:visiting with my surgeon, which is, it's bittersweet. I mean, it's a
Speaker:great thing that I can live beyond the three month increment and enjoy
Speaker:life and what's going to unfold before us. But these are friends that we've
Speaker:made. These are parts of our family that I don't, that I've got to go
Speaker:find other ways to meet up with them and catch up with them. But I
Speaker:will take it. It's a win. And I'm looking forward to not walking
Speaker:into that clinic nearly as frequent because I have a little bit of
Speaker:PTSD every time I walk, every time I walk in the doors. Am I
Speaker:walking out of this today as well? Right. Because sometimes you didn't get to walk
Speaker:out. Some days I didn't get to. They would admit me. Yes.
Speaker:Or I get to walk out and make my own decisions about what, what the
Speaker:rest of the week at week holds. But, but I am very grateful for
Speaker:the experiences I've had. I have great hope and
Speaker:the research that is going on in this field. And in my 27
Speaker:years, what I think is really neat and this is my
Speaker:crazy view of reality, how the field of
Speaker:cardiac thoracic medicine has changed in the 27
Speaker:years. How the types of anesthesia they use
Speaker:is so much better and easier on the body for me at least than it
Speaker:was 27 years ago. Little things like that that I'm
Speaker:very grateful for and I'm hoping in another 27 years that it's
Speaker:even surpassed everything we could imagine. Yeah. My hope is
Speaker:that they're doing all valve replacements through like the femoral
Speaker:artery or something instead of opening a. I'm all for it. Wouldn't that be.
Speaker:That's a walk. That's a walk in the park to have that done. I've. I've
Speaker:had one of those. Yeah, that's easy. What a
Speaker:perspective you have that really, I don't know many other heart patients
Speaker:have, for better or for worse. And in closing,
Speaker:going back 27 years, what would you
Speaker:tell yourself? Like, if you could go back as you're starting
Speaker:this journey telling your younger self, hey, you're about to
Speaker:go through 27 years of really hard
Speaker:stuff, right? What do you want that younger part of you to
Speaker:know? Well, I mean, life is still good. People
Speaker:are inherently amazing. And just
Speaker:because something happens to you doesn't mean that you were wronged. You've just
Speaker:been this the hand that you have been dealt. Play it. Because this is your
Speaker:journey in life and there are going to be some amazing parts of
Speaker:it. Enjoy it. This is going to be a time. There's going to be a
Speaker:little bit of suffering, there's going to be some trials, but there's going to be
Speaker:some tribulations as well. So enjoy it. And what
Speaker:can you take from your experiences to
Speaker:encourage teachers and enhance
Speaker:the next generation? And this is why I invited you back on for the
Speaker:series. You always have the most amazing wisdom and
Speaker:perspective to share with others. And I, for one, benefit
Speaker:greatly. So thank you, Bill, Wendy, and
Speaker:can you just verbalize to us how listeners can find you should they want to
Speaker:reach out? Well, Boots, before I do that, I thank you
Speaker:for going on this journey and connecting heart
Speaker:patients together because I have met several people that have been on the
Speaker:podcast and told their story and it's fun to connect with other people who
Speaker:have similar experiences, especially that are
Speaker:younger than the typical open heart patient.
Speaker:And so that has been a met, has been a lot of fun to meet.
Speaker:But over the past year and a half, I've started my own writing project. It
Speaker:is the start of what I'm hoping is a manuscript, a book. We're
Speaker:still working through that, but you can find
Speaker:me@williamwingate.com just like it sounds.
Speaker:And it is, it is different. Post in a newsletter that is focusing
Speaker:on hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do and everything that
Speaker:we experience. Your future is bright. May you stay out of the
Speaker:cath lab. Yes, please. I hope, I hope. Well, thank
Speaker:you Bill and thank you listeners. And please
Speaker:do consider becoming part of our Patreon
Speaker:community. You can find the link in the show notes. This
Speaker:podcast is only elevated by those
Speaker:who support it and it definitely gives me a little wind in my
Speaker:sails when I hear from listeners, so you can also send me an email
Speaker:bootsheartchamber podcast.com
Speaker:this podcast was formerly named the Heart Chamber. And do be
Speaker:be sure to come back next week for another installment of
Speaker:Hope for the Holidays. I love you, you matter and your
Speaker:heart is your best friend.
