{"id":199623,"date":"2026-04-16T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199623\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:34:07","slug":"north-central-bronx-hospital-nurse-practitioner-helps-patient-overcome-near-fatal-case-of-cardiomyopathy-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199623\/","title":{"rendered":"North Central Bronx Hospital nurse practitioner helps patient overcome near-fatal case of cardiomyopathy \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bronx resident Ray Santana, 64, was told by doctors at\u00a0NYC Health + Hospitals\/North Central Bronx<\/a> that he was three days away from suffering brain death had he not received instant intervention back in August 2023.<\/p>\n

At the time, Santana had been a functioning alcoholic for years. He was unaware until then that the years of drinking had quietly destroyed his heart muscle, which led to him being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which prolonged alcohol use weakens the heart\u2019s ability to pump blood effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me that if I had waited three more days, I would have been brain dead,\u201d Santana said. \u201cThat was at the beginning of August 2023. I didn\u2019t even know I had a disease. I thought I was a regular alcoholic.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a period when Santana was unable to walk or climb stairs, struggled to breathe and suffered severe leg swelling. He was hospitalized multiple times at multiple facilities, including some episodes where he needed mechanical ventilation.<\/p>\n

A cardiology referral brought him to Nurse Practitioner Blessy Varghese, MS, FNP, AGNP-C, CEN. According to Santana, the care she provided at the North Central Bronx Hospital\u2019s Cardiology Clinic helped him get sober. He has now been sober for more than two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, my patient walked into our cardiology clinic struggling with severe shortness of breath and significant limitations in daily activity,\u201d Varghese said. \u201cEven simple tasks such as walking short distances had become exhausting. His heart was weak, and at that time, his quality of life was greatly affected. The goal was not only to treat his heart condition but also to help him regain control of his health and restore his ability to live a full life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santana arrived at the hospital\u2019s emergency room, suffering from a dangerously weak heart. While he was eventually discharged after being admitted and stabilized, continued care was needed for his condition. He was referred to NYC Health + Hospital\/North Central Bronx\u2019s Cardiology Clinic, where he began the life-changing treatment with Varghese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day I went there for a cardiologist \u2014 maybe a year and a half or two years ago \u2014 that\u2019s when I was introduced to Varghese,\u201d Santana said. \u201cSince the beginning, with the medication and the tests and so on, she basically helped me through whatever I had. Since the first day I met her, she was a very nice doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The care plan that Varghese developed for Santana included medicine to treat his heart failure, regular laboratory testing, close follow-up visits and meaningful habit changes. This led to Santana stopping drinking, changing his diet, monitoring his weight and getting his blood pressure under control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat truly made the difference was the patient\u2019s dedication,\u201d Varghese said. \u201cHe embraced the recommended lifestyle changes, remained highly compliant with his medications and consistently attended follow-up appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"North Central Bronx Hospital Chief Experience Officer Alisha Bronne presented Santana with an award for his recovery. Photo courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals\/North Central Bronx<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know my disease had taken me to a state I never thought existed \u2014 basically close to death,\u201d Santana said. \u201cSince then, I\u2019ve changed people, places and things. I take it one day at a time. I haven\u2019t drunk in two years, six months and four days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Santana following Varghese\u2019s care plan, his heart function showed significant improvement, his overall endurance went up dramatically and he was able to routinely perform activities that were previously impracticable. This all helped him lose weight, rebuild his relationship with his wife and reclaim an active life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results were remarkable. Today, he is able to go to the gym, exercise regularly and carry out his daily activities without limitation. He enjoys his family time and his vacations,\u201d Varghese said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has begun working out. With the medications, his endurance really came back. He\u2019s really happy now. He enjoys coming to the clinic and has built a relationship with everybody there. Whenever he comes in, he literally lights up the whole clinic \u2014 he even stops by other departments just to say hi. He thought he wouldn\u2019t make it at one point, but now he\u2019s really happy about how things turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

NYC Health + Hospitals\/North Central Bronx recommends that anyone suffering from similar conditions to call their Cardiology Clinic at (718)-519-3310.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bronx resident Ray Santana, 64, was told by doctors at\u00a0NYC Health + Hospitals\/North Central Bronx that he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[79339,128,76814,9,24,61912,63,32946,79340,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-199623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-blessy-varghese","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-cardiomyopathy","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-north-central-bronx-hospital","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-health-hospitals-north-central-bronx","16":"tag-ray-santana","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}