Three-time Texas heart surgery patient now runs half marathons, climbs mountains

    NORTH TEXAS (KTVT) -- A three-time heart surgery patient is going from counting his days to making his days count by volunteering at the hospital that saved his life three times. Joe Wells had a "widow maker," which is considered among the deadliest types of heart attacks.

From afar, 67-year-old Wells looks like any other volunteer at Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital in Fort Worth with lots of time on his side.

"You feel like you have to start giving back a little bit," Wells said.

Wells, a fitness enthusiast, felt chest pain after a two-hour workout in 2016.

"Thirty minutes later, I was in the emergency room at Baylor Scott & White, and they were repairing a 100% blockage of my right coronary artery," Wells said.

He bounced back after two heart surgeries with stents and ran the Cowtown half-marathon in his 60s.

"I beat that record by about five minutes in 2018, and that was a record that I set back in my 40s," Wells said.

Wells lifted weights in the Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital's gym in April of this year when he had a pain in his chest, and he knew what to do.

"I went down to the emergency room, which was all of 200 feet away," Wells said. "I asked them to run an EKG, and sure enough, I was having a second heart attack."

This time, Wells needed a triple bypass surgery.

"That gives us the opportunity to basically jump over, give all new plumbing to the heart muscle, and jump over multiple blockages," Dr. Anita Krueger said.

Dr. Krueger is a thoracic and cardiac surgeon at Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital and operated on Wells. She said some risk factors for heart disease include being a smoker, having a sedentary lifestyle, and eating a poor diet.

"We're looking for symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath," Krueger said. "Some people can even have symptoms that you don't see on TV like nausea and vomiting. Basically, if something's not right, seeing your doctor is always advised."

Wells is taking advantage of the time he has and setting even loftier goals for the future.

"My goal this time is next June, I'm planning to take a couple of younger, fitter family members with me, and we are going to hike to the top of Mount Elbert in Colorado," Wells said.

Wells is working to bring back the hospital's "Caring Hearts" volunteer program, which took a pause in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It inspires current heart patients by pairing them with those who were once in their shoes.