Stacy Holsapple is a patient experience analyst at Salem Health. She now thanks the Salem Health Interventional Cardiology team for saving her life.

During the late summer of 2025, Holsapple was doing physical therapy exercises for her knee when she felt a tightness in her chest.

Unusual symptoms

“I was approaching my 50^th birthday and thought I was developing heartburn, indigestion, something like that,” she said.

In the labs and abdominal ultrasound that followed, everything came up normal. However, Holsapple said symptoms worsened as the months went on.

“I had shortness of breath, walking became more difficult, but nothing lasted a long time,” she said. “I just thought it was reflux coming up that I needed to settle.”

Holsapple met with a gastroenterologist in December 2025. After an abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG) and abnormal stress test, she sought out care with the Salem Health Cardiology Clinic in early January.

Immediate, life-saving care

“They got me in for a next-day appointment, and that’s when I met with Dr. Liam Morris for the first time,” Holsapple said. “He was absolutely fantastic. He wanted to know about my experience and asked really insightful questions. It was an attentive dialogue and he took a lot of time reviewing the test results.”

Holsapple notes she did not have any major risk factors. Her blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol were all within normal range. However, the interventional cardiologist decided an angiogram was the best way to investigate what was going on.

A life-threatening diagnosis

Holsapple said they found a nearly 100% blockage of the left anterior descending artery, also known as the widowmaker.

“The widowmaker is the main artery of the heart,” Dr. Morris said. “This is the most important of the three blood vessels supplying blood to the heart. If there is an acute blockage in that artery, that is life-threatening.”

Heather Yancey, RN, is a nurse with the angiography department. Yancey said this is why angiograms are so important.

“They reveal definitively if there is a true blockage or not,” she said.

Dr. Morris said because he uses minimal sedation during angiograms, he was able to have an open discussion with Holsapple about the next steps in her care.

“This was a fork in the road in some ways,” Dr. Morris said. “She had a potential knee surgery coming up. If we were to fix the blockage, we needed to put Stacy on blood thinners, which would defer the knee surgery for a good length of time.”

Patient-centered decision making

Holsapple said she agreed that getting a stent put in was the best way to move forward.

“I very much appreciated that he wanted me to be well informed and an active participant in my decisions,” she said.

Tina Karo-Grunberg, RN, is the nurse who researched Holsapple’s health history before admitting her to the interventional recovery unit. Karo-Grunberg said her team takes pride in working together to prioritize patients.

“Working as a team is what we do,” she said. “I feel we all work well with mutual respect and desire for the best outcome for our patients.”

Jeremy Togstad, RN, also treated Holsapple in the IRU. Togstad said he often sees patients who don’t realize the severity of their symptoms.

“Some people feel great, and then it becomes a lifesaving event — that’s what Stacy’s case was like,” he said. “It’s nice to see those cases where you go in and see we were able to make a huge difference.”

Holsapple said after being cared for by this team, she feels fortunate to be alive today.

“This summer my husband and I have a daughter getting married and another one of our daughters is having our first grandbaby,” she said. “There are family milestones to be celebrated, and there’s so much life to be lived, and I’m grateful to be here with my loved ones celebrating them.”

Your path to cardiac care

From heart attacks and high blood pressure to heart disease and failure — we’re here to address your cardiology concerns at Salem Health. Learn more about our team and the steps we can take to get your health back on track.