A Life Reclaimed – Larry’s Story

Moments before he col­lapsed, Lar­ry L. felt some­thing was wrong. What hap­pened next is a blur, but one thing remains crys­tal clear — that sin­gle moment for­ev­er altered the course of his life.

It was an ordi­nary Novem­ber day in 2024 when Lar­ry pulled into the park­ing lot of Duly Health and Care’s Plain­field Infu­sion Cen­ter. For over a decade, he had vis­it­ed month­ly for B12 injec­tions to treat per­ni­cious ane­mia, a con­di­tion diag­nosed by Dr. Nasir Sha­hab, an Oncol­o­gy and Hema­tol­ogy physi­cian. The cen­ter was like a sec­ond home to him, filled with famil­iar faces and a health­care team that felt like family. 

“Every­body knows me, and they’ve become like fam­i­ly,” Lar­ry said. ​“If I was ever late for an appoint­ment, they’d call, say­ing, ​‘Lar­ry, where are you?” 

But that day felt dif­fer­ent. As Lar­ry parked his car, a wave of unease struck him, which he dis­missed as indi­ges­tion. Moments lat­er, the feel­ing wors­ened as he stepped out of the car. ​“I went to stand up, and it hit me like a ton of bricks,” Lar­ry recalled. ​“Sud­den­ly, I was sur­round­ed by nurs­es, and then every­thing went dark.” 

Lar­ry had suf­fered a severe heart attack and required triple bypass surgery. The last faces he remem­bers are those of Duly nurs­es Bill Spray, RN and Katie Callanan, RN. Thanks to their swift actions along with oth­ers from the Duly team and the response of local para­medics, Lar­ry was giv­en a sec­ond chance at life. 

“The last thing I remem­ber is Katie say­ing, ​‘Lar­ry, stay with us,’” he said. ​“They saved my life. Some­body was watch­ing over me that day.” 

After surgery, Lar­ry began the slow process of recov­ery. Amid his phys­i­cal heal­ing, some­thing deep­er began to shift — his per­spec­tive on life. As a Viet­nam vet­er­an, Lar­ry had faced sig­nif­i­cant health chal­lenges over the years, includ­ing heart dis­ease, chron­ic bron­chi­tis, and mul­ti­ple back surg­eries, com­pound­ed by expo­sure to Agent Orange. Through it all, his pri­ma­ry care provider, Dr. Don­ald Rusthoven, Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine Physi­cian, and Dr. Jason Dy, Inter­nal Med­i­cine Physi­cian, had guid­ed him with stead­fast care. 

How­ev­er, the heart attack became more than a med­ical cri­sis — it was a wake-up call. It forced Lar­ry to con­front years of grief and the emo­tion­al dis­tance he had put between him­self and his fam­i­ly. ​“My wife passed away six years ago from a mas­sive heart attack,” Lar­ry shared, his voice filled with emo­tion. ​“I watched her die for nine and a half months, and it real­ly took a toll on me. The two of us were like two peas in a pod.” 

Over­come with grief, Lar­ry dis­tanced him­self from those he loved most — his son, daugh­ter, and grandchildren. 

“She was every­thing, and then she was gone,” he said. ​“I buried myself. I decid­ed I didn’t want any­thing to do with any­body anymore.” 

The heart attack became a turn­ing point. One of the most pro­found changes was recon­nect­ing with his daugh­ter, whom he hadn’t spo­ken to in five years. ​“After the surgery, when I got back home, my daugh­ter came for Thanks­giv­ing, and we recon­nect­ed. It was a bless­ing,” he said tearfully. 

Larry’s recov­ery has been about more than phys­i­cal heal­ing — it’s been about mend­ing his heart and reclaim­ing his life. ​“I real­ized I could’ve been dead, and I would’ve nev­er con­nect­ed with them. Once this hap­pened, I real­ized life is to be enjoyed. Time is pre­cious,” he said. 

Grate­ful for the care and com­pas­sion he received, Lar­ry has made it a pri­or­i­ty to thank those who saved his life. He’s brought meals to the Duly team, hos­pi­tal staff, and para­medics who saved him that day, as a small token of his gratitude. 

“Those peo­ple are angels; they’re ded­i­cat­ed,” he said. ​“They saved my life, no ques­tions asked.”