For 76-year-old John Zells, life is something to be lived to its fullest. An avid golfer, world traveler and retired banker living in Boca Raton, his days are filled with activity, including golf with his buddies once or twice a week. He and his wife enjoy visiting with their three adult children, one of whom lives nearby, and planning their next bucket-list travel destination.

So, when he was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, the thought of a long and painful recovery from traditional open-heart surgery was daunting. Fortunately, Mr. Zells found another option that was not only close to home, but it would also have him back on the golf course in just a matter of weeks.

An Unexpected Diagnosis for an Asymptomatic Patient

Like many individuals with heart disease, Mr. Zells had no idea there was a serious issue with his heart. “I didn’t know I had any problem at all,” he recalls. His only complaint was what he believed to be acid reflux, which medication seemed to resolve. He was, in his own words, “totally asymptomatic.”

This is not an uncommon scenario, explains J.T. McGinn III, M.D., a cardiac surgeon with Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. “It’s not unusual to be completely asymptomatic with severe coronary artery disease,” he says. “Often the first sign of heart disease is a heart attack because these symptoms are very nebulous, ambiguous and often silent.” Without surgical intervention, Dr. McGinn adds, patients like Mr. Zells typically would develop some sort of acute coronary syndrome within the next two to three years.

During a routine visit, Mr. Zells’s cardiologist became concerned after asking him a series of questions. He recommended a cardiac catheterization to investigate further. The results were shocking.

(Watch now: John Zells, 76, of Boca Raton, is an avid golfer who had no idea his heart was a “ticking time bomb” that required bypass surgery. Traditional open-heart surgery would have entailed a long and painful recovery and kept him from playing golf for a year. Instead, with minimally invasive surgery by J.T. McGinn III, M.D., with Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Mr. Zells was back on the links just three weeks later. Video by Eduardo Morales, SlickVid Productions.)

“You have a 90-plus-percent blockage in your ‘widow maker’ – the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery,” Mr. Zells was told. It was a “ticking time bomb” that could trigger a massive – and quite likely fatal – heart attack with no warning, thus the artery’s grim name.

Making matters worse, Mr. Zells’s blockage was located at a critical junction where the LAD artery branches from the heart’s left main artery, making a stent procedure impossible. According to Dr. McGinn, “the best and most long-lasting intervention for disease of this severity and this location” would be bypass surgery.

Discovering a Better Option: Minimally Invasive Surgery

Faced with the prospect of traditional open-heart surgery, which involves breaking the breastbone (a procedure known as a sternotomy), Mr. Zells began his own research. “I actually did some research online and read about minimally invasive cardiac surgery,” he says.

This modern approach avoids the sternotomy, instead using a small incision between the ribs to access the heart. Intrigued, Mr. Zells asked his cardiologist about it. While his doctor was not trained in the procedure, he provided a crucial referral to Dr. McGinn, who had been practicing in Miami but was now practicing at Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute.

Dr. McGinn is one of a select group of surgeons worldwide who can perform complex, multivessel bypass surgery through this minimally invasive technique. This specialized skill was taught to him by his father, a pioneer in the field of multivessel revascularization and inventor of the minimally invasive procedure known as “the McGinn Technique.”

Mr. Zells looked up Dr. McGinn online and was impressed by his background. He scheduled a consultation and found his first impression to be just as positive. “Immediately, I just felt very comfortable with him,” Mr. Zells shares. “He explained the process completely and said I was an excellent candidate.”

The Benefits of a Less Invasive Approach

Dr. McGinn outlined the significant advantages of the minimally invasive procedure compared to a traditional sternotomy. While the surgical risks and long-term outcomes are the same, the recovery is profoundly different.

“Recovery is a little bit quicker,” Dr. McGinn notes. “Patients can leave the hospital sooner and they don’t have to undergo as extensive cardiac rehabilitation.” He adds that there is less bleeding and a lower risk of wound complications, as the breastbone is left intact.

For patients, this translates into a much faster return to normal life. “A sternotomy takes really a full year to heal,” Dr. McGinn says. With the minimally invasive approach, patients can resume their daily activities much more quickly. For Mr. Zells, whose active lifestyle includes frequent golf and extensive travel, this was a deciding factor. Not playing golf, he says, “would be a serious detraction from the quality of my life.”

A Successful Surgery and a Remarkable Recovery

The surgery was a success. Mr. Zells’s hospital stay was just four nights, and his experience stood in stark contrast to that of other cardiac patients he observed. “I could hear the moaning and groaning from other cardiac patients who had had the split sternum approach,” he recalls. “With the dramatic difference in recoveries, it was really hard to understand why anybody wouldn’t go the minimally invasive route.”

Mr. Zells experienced no significant pain or discomfort. “I was up and walking the very next day. The nurses were amazed.”

His rapid recovery continued at home. The visiting nurses were so impressed with his progress that they determined he no longer needed their services. “I literally was right back to normal within a matter of a week or so,” he says.

The true testament to his recovery came just weeks after he underwent major heart surgery. “Three weeks to the day following my surgery, I was back on the golf course playing golf,” Mr. Zells says with pride. “I stepped up to the first tee, hit the shot, everything felt great.” His golfing friends were astounded. “They couldn’t believe it,” he laughs.

Within a month, the procedure felt like a distant memory. “I had already forgotten I even had the surgery,” he reflects. “It’s almost like it never happened.”

Dr. McGinn was pleased but not surprised by the outcome. He has performed more than 300 of these procedures at Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute “and the outcomes are great,” he says. “In Mr. Zells’s case, it’s a permanent fix – it will last him a lifetime.”

The Baptist Health Difference: Team-Based, Patient-Centered Care

Both Mr. Zells and Dr. McGinn attribute the successful outcome not just to the innovative procedure, but also to the exceptional quality of care at Baptist Health.

Dr. McGinn emphasizes the collaborative, team-based approach that defines the care found at Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute. “Every person on the team has a critical role,” he states. “We have a fantastic staff of interventional cardiologists and surgeons that work together to provide tailored care. We meet weekly to discuss the best line of treatment for every single patient.”

Mr. Zells describes the staff at Boca Raton Regional Hospital as “exceptional.” He notes, “The entire unit was great. Everybody had a private room. The attention of the staff was remarkable.”

This commitment to excellence and tailored patient care is why Dr. McGinn believes Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute provides the best cardiovascular care in the region. “I would go nowhere else for my care,” he says.

Living the Dream, Thanks to World-Class Care

Today, Mr. Zells feels fortunate and grateful. He is back to traveling the world with his wife, with a 51-day cruise to Australia, New Zealand and the Polynesian islands on the horizon. He continues to play golf a couple of times a week, enjoying both the sport and the camaraderie.

He is pleased that he took the initiative to research his options and found an expert surgeon in Dr. McGinn. “I’m happy to be here, I’m living the dream and I am delighted that I have a wonderful surgeon,” asserts Mr. Zells. “I did my research and, without reservation, I would recommend Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute to my family and friends and anyone who asks as an exceptional solution for my type of problem.”

Mr. Zells’s advice to others facing a similar diagnosis is to be proactive. “I would certainly encourage anyone considering bypass surgery to explore the opportunity of doing a minimally invasive procedure.” While not every patient is a candidate, he says, for those who are, the benefits can be life changing.

Dr. McGinn calls Mr. Zells a “very practical” man, noting that “he saw a clear problem and he did his research.” And as cardiac surgery cases go, he says Mr. Zells was an ideal patient. “An asymptomatic patient who had a successful surgery followed by a brief and uneventful hospitalization and who’s now back to doing what he likes to do? I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Mr. Zells’s story is a powerful example of how medical innovation – combined with expert surgical skill and compassionate, team-based care – can produce extraordinary outcomes. An asymptomatic patient who could have faced a debilitating heart attack was instead able to undergo a life-saving procedure and return to “living the dream” in a matter of weeks.