Writer: Abby Fox
Teamwork Saves Weiberg’s Life
Chad Weiberg sat in the surgeon’s office, shell-shocked from hearing the details of his upcoming surgery. He had no chest pain, no shortness of breath, and yet here he was about to schedule open-heart surgery. How was this possible?
The power of modern medicine allowed his doctors to identify a life-threatening aneurysm that can be a silent killer with no advance signs or symptoms. The system worked because Weiberg was willing to get help before he had a problem.
“We are blessed to live in an age where we’ve got good knowledge and good technology and a lot of really skilled professionals. They can fix a lot of things that may be going wrong, but they have to know about it first,” Weiberg said. “Go get your physicals. If I had put these screenings off any longer, who knows what would have happened?”
As Oklahoma State University’s athletic director, Weiberg has a big job with lots of responsibilities. It’s not always easy to prioritize your health, and he delayed his heart screening for several years. Finally, after the third year of his primary care physician, Dr. Todd Green, encouraging it, he called Stillwater Medical to get it scheduled. He had no real worries going in because he was healthy: no high cholesterol or high blood pressure. The test itself was quick and easy, and he left that day with good scores.
But a few days later, Weiberg got a call from Dr. Amy Kirby, a diagnostic radiology specialist at Stillwater Medical. Radiology results found a possible source of concern. Within minutes, Dr. Green was on the phone with him scheduling a follow-up.
Wieberg said the next few days and weeks were a blur as he did more testing, expecting the concerns to dissipate. Instead, they accelerated. With every test, with every visit, he got more bad news. The issue was serious.
After facing some hesitation and doubt about his circumstances, he listened when the heart surgeon told him to schedule surgery as soon as possible. Many of those close to him had no idea until the week of the surgery.
“It happened really quick, obviously, going through the tests and figuring out where this was headed,” Weiberg said. “It wasn’t that I was trying to keep anything secret, but I just didn’t want to create any distractions as we were getting ready to start football season.”
His background in athletics has taught him the power of teams coming together to accomplish great things. His medical team didn’t share the same jersey. His care was a joint effort involving OSU University Health Services, Stillwater Medical and Oklahoma Heart Hospital. All these systems came together with a common goal to get him healthy so he can live life to the fullest.
“At the end, as you’re literally being wheeled in for surgery, I just had this peace that everything was going to work out the way it was supposed to work out. Faith, for me, is a big part of that, but also just having confidence in where I was and their ability to do it,” Weiberg said.
Weiberg was able to return to work just a few weeks after surgery. He is still on his journey to healing and completing cardiac rehab at Stillwater Medical. For Weiberg, this experience has made him very passionate about sharing the importance of preventative care with his friends and family.
“Most of all, I feel blessed that they even caught it because I really had no symptoms. I was likely to never have any symptoms until it was just too late,” Weiberg said.
As a community health system, Stillwater Medical is committed to providing preventive care, which is why heart screenings are available all year at a self-pay rate of only $50. To schedule yours today visit www.StillwaterMedical.com.
