Patient Stories 2015-10-09 Rose's Heart Valve Disease Success Story Main Article Content Breadcrumb navigation All/Patient Stories/Rose Spagnola Heart Breakthrough Thanks to some very smart cookies, life goes on sweeter than ever. A minimally invasive heart valve replacement added years to Rose’s life. If you looked at Rose Spagnola four years ago, you would have seen a wife, grandmother, crafter and cookie baker. What you couldn’t have seen was her congestive heart failure, or how her faulty heart valve could be replaced without high-risk surgery. Thankfully, her family doctor attended a Northwestern Medicine seminar and saw the amazing things we’re doing with transcatheter aortic valve replacement or TAVR. As a result, Rose came to us on a Monday and left that Saturday with years of cookie-baking ahead of her. Interested in hearing more from Northwestern Medicine? 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