Tammy Martin-Whorley was having severe heart troubles. The Christiansburg, Virginia, native had an aortic valve regurgitation—which occurs when a person’s aortic valve, located on the left side of the heart, doesn’t close tightly—along with an ascending aortic aneurysm, which was affecting the blood flow from the heart to the rest of her body. After being turned down by two major academic medical centers, Tammy, a Jehovah’s Witness, had her surgery performed at Johns Hopkins without the use of a blood transfusion.

To learn more about the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Johns Hopkins, visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/bloodless_medicine_surgery/ or call 877-474-8558.