MARSHALL FOR YOUR HEALTH-DECEMBER 2025

A Comeback
Story With
Heart
But considering it was less than six
months after Patty’s open-heart surgery,
it was quite an accomplishment!
Patty is an avid cyclist, something she
and her husband have shared since they
met. Parents to six and grandparents to 11,
they rode their birthday and anniversary
years in miles each year. At 57, she started
running because her daughter, Emily,
was training for the CIM and Patty didn’t
want her to run alone. A new passion
was born.
In 2024, Patty was training for
Sacramento’s Shamrock’n Half
Marathon when she underwent a heart
catheterization. The procedure revealed
that although her arteries were clean,
Patty had severe aortic stenosis, a
condition where the valve that controls
blood flow from the heart to the body
becomes narrowed. In March 2025, Patty
had open-heart aortic valve surgery.
Patty wanted her active lifestyle back. Her
doctor was hesitant to refer her to cardiac
rehabilitation because she was such an
accomplished athlete and so, surely, she
could do the work on her own. Patty’s
surgeon and her running coach, however,
strongly encouraged her to enroll in
Marshall’s cardiac rehabilitation program.
SPECIAL AD SECTION
On September 13, 2025, Patty Vander
Dussen completed the El Dorado Hills
Gold Country Run. Completing a local “fun
run” might not seem like a tremendous
accomplishment for someone who has
participated in the California International
Marathon (CIM), the Boston Marathon, the
American River 50 Mile Endurance Run,
the Kauai Half Marathon, and a 100K 24-
hour run in San Francisco (she stopped at
62.33 miles – her age at the time), among
countless others.
Marshall’s Pritikin Intensive Cardiac
Rehabilitation has three core pillars:
exercise, nutrition, and a healthy
mindset. For some, adopting a healthy
mindset means establishing new active,
healthy habits. For Patty, however, it
6 | FOR YOUR HEALTH | www.marshallmedical.org