Skip to Main Content

How Acting Fast Got Bob Ruff Back on His Feet

Bob Ruff was working late on a Friday afternoon when he began to feel ill. “It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest,” says Bob, then 62, a technical analyst for a rigging equipment supplier in Houston. “My throat and both sides of my neck were burning,” he says. “My jaw was hurting.”

Although he had no history of heart problems, Bob’s grandfather died of a heart attack.  Bob, having received training in first aid, was certain that he was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. Almost immediately, he asked co-workers to call 9-1-1. Within five minutes, Houston EMS arrived, and Bob asked to be taken to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. Soon, Bob was in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at St. Luke’s, where an interventional cardiologist performed an angioplasty, unblocking his heart artery within 27 minutes of his arrival to St. Luke’s and within 57 minutes of his first contact with emergency medical providers (EMS).

Bob experienced what is known as a STEMI—ST-elevation myocardial infarction. This complete blockage of a heart artery by a blood clot, as determined by an electrocardiogram, is the most severe type of heart attack. Bob’s blockage was in the left anterior descending artery, one of three arteries that feed the heart and the one that supplies blood to the largest area of the heart muscle.

“We call it the widow maker because a complete blockage in this area has the highest incidence of death if not attended to urgently,” says Cardiologist Maher Nasser, MD, who performed the procedure.

Recently, St. Luke’s was the first and only hospital in Greater Houston to receive accreditation as a Mission: Lifeline® Heart Attack (STEMI) Receiving Center by the American Heart Association and Society of Chest Pain Centers. This prestigious recognition was granted to St. Luke’s because of its success in developing and implementing a system to rapidly respond to patients having an acute heart attack. Due to well-orchestrated processes involving cardiologists and other personnel at St. Luke’s and EMS providers, St. Luke’s consistently unblocks a heart artery in less than 90 minutes from a patient’s first medical contact with a paramedic.

As for Bob, he spent less than 48 hours in the hospital and received the green light to be back on the golf course two weeks later. He credits Houston EMS and the St. Luke’s team with his successful outcome. “Everyone at St. Luke’s was outstanding,” he says.

Related Patient Stories

Baylor St. Luke's Steps in for Man Denied Dual Transplantation in Home State

DEC 06, 2023

When another transplant would not agree to perform such a high-risk surgery due to his age, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center stepped up and performed a lifesaving liver and lung transplant for a 63-year-old Mississippi man.

Read More Additional information about Baylor St. Luke's Steps in for Man Denied Dual Transplantation

Baylor St. Luke’s Transplant Team Saving Lives Across the Globe

OCT 17, 2023

It is almost 4,000 miles from Honolulu, Hawaii to Houston and an approximate 8-hour flight. But the trip is not an issue for organ transplant patients who travel great distances for lifesaving care at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center.

Read More Additional information about Baylor St. Luke’s Transplant Team Saving Lives Across the Globe

500th Robotic Heart Surgery Proves How Far Cardiac Care Has Come

OCT 06, 2023

Dovie Burnett Bates is farming and canning vegetables today, thanks to robotics, and one of the world’s foremost cardiac surgeons at the Texas Medical Center.

Read More Additional information about 500th Robotic Heart Surgery Proves How Far Cardiac Care Has Come