The Catalyst Issue 28 | November 2017 | Page 20

“I’d recommend that anyone go to Baylor Scott & White, and consider donating. They save so many lives. There are no words to say how thankful I am.” – Toni Williams LIFE ANEW A grateful heart transplant patient survives a rare diagnosis, thanks to the exceptional care at Baylor Scott & White. 20 THE CATALYST Fall 17 | bswhealth.com was sick for five years,” says Toni Williams, of Temple. “I was weak, I couldn’t walk very far, and I had trouble breathing. I was so close to not being here.” Mrs. Williams was an otherwise healthy woman who, like many people her age, was enjoying life, including her grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, with her husband, Pat, of 34 years. Then, in 2011, her symptoms seemed to spring “I out of nowhere. After a series of tests that included a chest X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Robert C. Scott, III, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, diagnosed Mrs. Williams with sarcoidosis of the heart. The medical community doesn’t know what exactly causes this debilitating inflammatory disease, though it is most often found in the lungs and can be very