Earl Morrison

While driving his two grandsons to a baseball tournament near Myrtle Beach, Earl Morrison became disoriented and unable to control his car. His older grandson (14-years-old at the time) recognized something was wrong. The vehicle moved from lane to lane as his grandson told him to “pull over and stop.”

“Things were getting fuzzy,” Earl said, “I could not control my actions.” His grandson said he made a grunting sound as he slumped over the wheel while losing consciousness. Earl’s foot stayed on the accelerator and the vehicle continued traveling North on the highway for several miles.

Despite hitting two cars at 50 mph, Earl, his grandsons and the other drivers were miraculously uninjured. Eventually the car veered off the road, hit a church sign, and came to a stop.

		The hospital was unsure what caused Earl to lose consciousness. Tests showed no problems with his heart, but there were symptoms of a minor stroke and Earl remained unconscious for five days immediately following the accident. Although Earl received rehabilitation for two weeks after the accident, he could not walk without the aid of a walker. When he went for routine lab work, he noticed that the nurse couldn’t draw any blood. “I could see it moving slowly through the tubing, but it would retreat,” Earl said. The medical technician could not get a blood sample. He immediately went to his primary physician and asked him what was wrong. “I knew something was wrong. I had no energy… I got tired even putting on my clothes. My complexion had started to change and my facial muscles below my eyes had started to sag, making my eyes appear larger.” On the way out of the doctor’s office the nurse looked at him and her expression showed great concern for the state of his health.
He was sent back to Waccamaw Community Hospital where Earl lost consciousness for a second time. “I remember being in the waiting room and then waking up in ICU,” Earl said. On June 14, Cardiologist Craig Lieberman made the diagnosis that heart surgery was needed. Earl’s situation had immediately escalated...so quickly that Dr. Lieberman said later he did not have time to follow-up. Preparations were made to perform emergency heart surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) the following morning, June 15, 2005. There Earl spoke with surgeon Dr. John Kratz, who informed him of the urgency of the situation. “He said ‘you need heart surgery or you could be a dead man,’ so I told him I would put my trust in God to lead his hand.” The medical team discovered an infection had severely damaged Earl’s heart valves. “Members of the surgical team briefed my wife, and she was most disturbed that my heart would be removed, repaired, and replaced,” Earl said. “Approximately six weeks after surgery, I made a visit to Dr. Kratz and he told me that he’d had some concerns about me during the surgery. But as he said, ‘Here you are'.” After using the Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Plus mitral heart valve and the Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna aortic heart valve to replace both his mitral and aortic heart valves, Earl was on his way to recovery. “During a follow-up visit Dr. Lieberman informed me that I had about six to eight hours of life remaining when I went in for surgery,” Earl said. “I had no idea my life was so close to being over.” Other than the routine antibiotics after the surgery and the checkups with his doctor, Earl’s recovery has gone wonderfully. Earl can walk without using a walker and has been able to return to working in his garden. Occasionally, Earl even gets the chance to work as a substitute teacher. “Sometimes I can’t help but think about what happened to me,” Earl said. “I get emotional because I am so grateful, I am thankful to be alive.”