Nearly 54 years after undergoing heart surgery as a 7-year-old, Diane Thacker remains healthy and grateful she is still alive, The Freelance-Star newspaper in Virginia reports.
When Thacker underwent open heart surgery on April 8, 1963, pediatric cardiology was in its infancy. Thacker said her parents were told she had a 50 percent chance of surviving her operation.
Today, Thacker runs a cleaning business and lives in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, home that her father built when she was a child. She and her husband have been married for 43 years.
She said she remains active through her cleaning business and through walking. She has seen a cardiologist on a regular basis since her surgery.
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Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.