Stories of Gratitude: David Tocci

When someone saves your life, you never forget it, says Dave Tocci.

Thanks to Newton-Wellesley, he’s alive to tell his story. In 2000, the Needham builder and avid bodybuilder felt in peak shape at a ripped 225 lbs. Yet rollerblading with one of his kids, he found himself laboring to keep up. He shrugged off his lingering chest pain as stress. But his wife insisted, “You need to get to Newton-Wellesley now!”

From the instant they arrived, Joel Rubenstein, MD, knew Dave was in trouble. Waiting in a wheelchair to go for testing, Dave said he needed to go out to his car and make a few calls first. He can still feel his cardiologist’s hand pressing on his shoulder to stop him. “If you go out into that parking lot,” he warned, “we’re going to find you dead.”

After a cardiac catheterization revealed a 99% blockage in an artery, bypass surgery at MGH and cardiac rehab at NWH gave Dave a new lease on life

Ever since, “any little thing that I can do to support Newton-Wellesley, I do,” Dave says gratefully.

Like his own family, Newton-Wellesley has been part of our community for generations. “Every time I walk into the hospital, I feel it’s my home,” Dave adds. Three of his kids were born here, and daughter Nicole is now a nurse in the Elfers Cardiovascular Center.

He still relies on his NWH team, valuing the relationships he’s built with primary care physician Nick Mascoli, MD, and George Philippides, MD., Chief of Cardiology. “I’m in good hands,” he knows.

Never taking his health for granted, he works out five days a week. He advocates for living a healthy lifestyle and for supporting his favorite hospital.

As Dave will be the first to tell you, having access to a world-class team and the latest medical advances right here, in your own community, can be life-saving.

“They’re my mainstay,” says Dave