HEALTH

Miracle

for Mia Hope

Big Charlie’s Saloon on 11th and McKean recently hosted the Miracle for Mia Hope fundraiser. With tears in his eyes, Marc Andrilla could barely speak as he looked out over the crowd that spilled into the streets. “As her dad, it’s very hard for me to talk about it. It’s extremely devastating. Today, the emotions are running high, and I’m overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support.”

His daughter, Mia, is a bright, vibrant 19-year-old, whose life was turned upside down on August 11th. One minute she was beginning her morning routine and the next minute, she found herself on the floor paralyzed by an extremely rare and critical medical condition known as a spinal stroke. According to her parents, she was fully paralyzed from the shoulders down. Her mother Stephanie Andrilla, an oncology nurse, took leave from her job to care for her daughter full time. Currently, Mia is in a rehabilitation hospital, where she faces each day with determination and high spirits thanks to the outpouring of love and support from her family, friends and community.

Friend Denise DeMarco coordinated the event and was thrilled to see such a positive response from the neighborhood.

“Everything from food to entertainment was donated,” she said of everyone’s generosity. “DJ Mark Messina, Stephie’s Caterers,

Stogie Joe’s, Mike’s BBQ, City Pizza, Celebration Caterers, Acme Market, Philip Sessa’s Bouncy House, Passyunk Avenue and 9th Street - everywhere from New Jersey to Kansas City – HEALTH participated and so many more that are too numerous to name,” she said. “We’re so grateful for all of them. Not one person said no.” DeMarco said the money raised will go towards retrofitting Mia’s house to make it more accessible for her. The cost of renovations, both interior and exterior, can run in the tens of thousands of dollars so friends of the Andrilla family started a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $75,000. For details or to donate, log onto gofundme.com, Miracle for Mia Hope. PRH

by Maria Merlino

Philly Philly

Dr. Richard Vassallo

Keeping patients on track with a healthy heart

SPOTLIGHT

Growing up, Dr. Richard Vassallo says he had a good Catholic education. He is happy to cite a list of academic accomplishments that motivated him along his personal and professional paths in life.

He started his schooling at St. Mary of the Eternal and Roman Catholic High School, where he received the Archdiocese’s Distinguished Graduate Award. He also was awarded a track scholarship to St. Joseph University where he won the Catholic League Championship in the 200yard dash and the 110 hurdles. To this day, his record remains unbroken. While at St. Joe’s, tragedy struck. His father died of a heart attack. That motivated him to pursue a medical career specializing in cardiology. After graduating in 1963, he was accepted and served at Hahnemann University with a residency from 1968 to 1970 and maintained a cardiology fellowship for the next three years. As a doctor of internal medicine in cardiology, he headed the cardiology department at Nazareth Hospital for 40 years. He also was an advisor for three decades on Roman High School’s Board of Advisors and an associate professor at Hahnemann - now Drexel University. “In 1971, bypass surgery, angioplasty and stents were initiated and now we can replace the aortic valve without open heart surgery, but with minimally invasive procedures,” Dr. Vassallo says. “These are major advances in cardiology over the last 40 years. We also do lasers and ablation for atrial fibrillation, electrophysiology studies to convert the rhythms back to normal, revascularization for coronary artery disease, repair of aortic aneurysms and pacing.”

Dr. Vassallo thinks back to the early days when medical therapy was the only way to treat patients. “Major advances are everywhere in cardiology,” he says. “Mortality and ischemic infarctions have decreased. We can reverse the situation by doing catheterization, opening up the artery by angioplasty and putting in stents in the arteries that are occluded.

“We couldn’t do that in the early ‘70s as the technology did not exist,” he adds. “We can now do things without open heart surgery. We are now repairing the mitral valve leaks by going through the arteries of the heart and repairing the valve. Plus, there are major advances in congenital heart disease in pediatrics.”

Today, the lifespan of the heart patient has been extended because of these advances, he explains. In the past, patients would have been treated with medical therapy. “Initially, there was the Vineberg method originated by Canadian surgeon Arthur Vineberg, but that was not successful. Then we had the bypass surgery. If the patient had severe coronary artery disease, there was a 10 percent mortality per year, so in 10 years, most of the people would be dead.”

“With bypass surgery, people have extended their lives considerably. Also, if the grafts have become occluded, you can open them up with angioplasty and put in stents – tiny expandable metal mesh coils – surgeons insert into the newly opened area of the artery to help keep the artery from narrowing or closing again, not only in the new arteries of the heart, but also in the artificial vessels.”

There are two types of risk factors for the development of coronary artery disease, according to Dr. Vassallo. There are the uncontrollable factors such as age, gender, family history and race. And there are risk factors that you can control, like lifestyle and behavior.

“Smoking, high blood pressure,

high blood cholesterol, high blood sugar (diabetes), obesity, physical inactivity and stress. These controllable risks are especially important if you have uncontrollable risks in your life,” Dr. Vassallo says. “Early on, plaque build-up can be controlled by healthy lifestyle choices, such as switching to a heart-healthy diet, exercising and not smoking. If those efforts are unsuccessful over time, we now have riskcontrolling drugs such as statins and other medications to lower HEALTH cholesterol levels, benefit the arteries and prevent further damage.” Dr. Vassallo is the recipient of the Papal Honor of Knights of St. Gregory the Great. This prestigious award, honoring individuals for their personal service to the Catholic Church, was given to him by the Archdiocese and Pope John Paul II. He is a member of St. John the Evangelist parish in Yardley, where he lives with his wife, the former Mary H. Kierans. They have eight children and 19 grandchildren. PRH

by Maria Merlino

Richard W. Vassallo, MD Northeast Cardiology Consultants 2701 Holme Avenue #105 Philadelphia, PA 19152 215.335.4944

Brain Training

top Ways to Keep those Neurons Firing

courtesy of Jamie Flowers, LCSW

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The brain is an organ and just like any other part of our body, it requires healthy habits to function optimally and reduce cognitive decline. There are many things that we can do for our brains to keep them fit, such as a good diet, exercise, and sleep habits. But did you know that you can exercise the brain, too? Ways to exercise the brain include challenging yourself, learning new things and taking care of your emotional health.

Brain training is something that neurologists and psychologists utilize to help engage the brain and keep those neurons firing. Crossword puzzles, sudoku and word searches are classic ways to train your brain. Recently, though, many apps have appeared with games for brain exercises. Lumosity, Peak and Elevate provide specific games to target focus, memory, problem-solving and other cognitive functions. Give them a

try! Another way to train the brain is to teach someone something. By volunteering to teach your favorite hobby at your local senior center, you can reinforce your own knowledge and help build a stronger community which will keep you more socially engaged. An engaged HEALTH brain is an active brain, and an active brain is a healthy brain. Another way to maintain brain health is to simply take care of your emotional health, too. An individual’s response to stress can manifest in a lot of ways. You may experience anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, depression, irritability, or loneliness. Stress affects us in numerous ways but most surprisingly it can kill brain cells and chronic stress can even cause the prefrontal cortex region of the brain to shrink. Talk about your mental health with your friends and family, your doctor or a mental health professional. Take care of yourself by taking extra good care of your brain. PRH

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