Singer Amy Grant Undergoes Open Heart Surgery
This year has held surprises for everyone. For many musicians, 2020 has been a year full of changed plans.
Concerts and shows have been canceled or postponed, affecting not only the artists but the teams of staff that would have been hard at work and earning money keeping the shows running smoothly.
Perhaps one of the only musicians that has not had to alter their plans too drastically is six-time Grammy winner Amy Grant, 59, who had already decided that she was taking the summer off to attend to some health matters.
Grant was born with a heart defect, partial anomalous pulmonary venous return.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition means “some of the pulmonary veins carrying blood from the lungs to the heart flow into other blood vessels or into the heart’s upper right chamber (right atrium), instead of correctly entering the heart’s upper left chamber (left atrium). This causes some oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to mix with oxygen-poor blood before entering the right atrium.”
Thankfully for Grant, it was an asymptomatic condition, but it remained undiagnosed until just recently. In February, Grant broke the news to her followers.
“Since February is heart health awareness month, I want to send a shout out to my doctor, John Bright Cage,” she tweeted on Feb. 12. “He suggested I have a check up because of my Dad’s heart history.”
“As always, I am feeling great, but the battery of tests he put me through show that I have had a heart condition since birth. The first good news is that I am completely asymptomatic.”
“The second good news is that it’s fixable, so instead of concerts and camping trips this summer, I am going to take care of my heart.”
“Are you taking care of yours?! Please do.”
Since February is heart health awareness month, I want to send a shout out to my doctor, John Bright Cage.
He suggested I have a check up because of my Dad’s heart history… (look to image for full message from Amy)#HeartHealth #PAPVR #EveryHeartbeat pic.twitter.com/5bXt17qXQX
— Amy Grant (@amygrant) February 13, 2020
While hospitals pose their own set of risks at this time, Grant was able to get in for open heart surgery.
“From Team Amy – with all that is going on in our world that needs our collective prayer, please also join us in praying for Amy this week as she has heart surgery to correct her PAPVR condition,” a post on her Facebook page this week read.
The surgery took place on Wednesday, and by all reports, it was a success. A special thank you to fans was also posted on Amy’s social media accounts.
“She had open-heart surgery to correct a condition from birth the doctors discovered during a heart checkup called PAPVR,” Grant’s representative told People.
“Thankfully the doctor said it could not have gone better. We’re praying for a full and easy recovery over the next days, weeks and months to come.”
Many conditions go undetected until a person has a catastrophic health event, so thanks to the vigilance of Grant’s doctors, she was able to avoid future issues.
Hopefully she will continue to heal quickly, and will soon be able to get back to doing what she does best.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
