His & Her Open-Heart Surgery

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By Linda Carol Cherken

Married 45 years, Bob and Tina Buckley do almost everything together, from daily strolls to unexpected open-heart surgeries.

Ever the gentleman, Bob Buckley, 67, has always believed in “ladies first.” He holds the door for his wife, lets her walk into an elevator first, and makes sure she is ahead of him in a buffet line.

That changed one day in 2006 when Tina, his wife of 45 years, was being prepped for quadruple-bypass surgery. Suddenly Bob found himself struggling to breathe. The staff quickly discerned that Bob’s heart was in danger, too. He was rushed into emergency surgery while Tina, 65, awaited her turn.

Bob’s heart condition (an artery blockage nicknamed the widow maker because it often kills instantly) was worse than Tina’s, says V. Paul Addonizio, chief cardiac surgeon at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania. In fact, Bob is lucky that his wife’s condition brought him to the hospital.

“If Mr. Buckley hadn’t swiftly responded [to his wife’s symptoms] like he did, out of the deep affection he feels for his wife, they both most probably would have died,” Addonizio says.

It happened quickly
Two days before stepping foot in the hospital, Bob and Tina were strolling along the Jersey shore where they were vacationing. It seemed like a perfect Sunday evening.

“On the boardwalk, I felt fine while we were walking,” Tina says. “I was just enjoying myself and eating things I shouldn’t be eating. I did have a little discomfort at that point, but not much.”

When Bob looked at Tina, however, he knew something was wrong. “She just didn’t look right to me,” he says.

Bob convinced Tina to return to their vacation home nearby to rest on the couch. “Tina will never admit that she doesn’t feel well. Whenever she’s under the weather, her home remedy is to drink a glass of ice water. This time ice water didn’t work and the discomfort developed into chest pain and nausea,” Bob says.

He convinced Tina that they should head home to Pennsylvania and see a doctor. As they drove, Tina’s symptoms worsened and she asked Bob to drive straight to Abington Memorial Hospital.

“That’s when I knew something was really wrong,” Bob says. “I figured from her symptoms, it might be her heart, but I was thinking maybe she needed some medicines or, at worst, a stent, but certainly not open-heart surgery.”