In his nearly 101 years of life, Upton, Wyoming’s Donald Gose has lived through a lot.
As a history buff and the owner of two vintage automobiles, Donald keeps his ties to the past alive. As a patient of Monument Health’s Heart and Vascular Institute, though, he is very much a man of the present.
Recently, Donald underwent a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure performed by Joseph Tuma, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, Interventional Cardiologist and Medical Director at Monument Health Heart and Vascular Institute in Rapid City. A TAVR procedure implants a synthetic valve to replace a damaged aortic valve that no longer functions properly and, as a consequence, blocks blood flowing from the heart to the body.
Donald’s heart issues go back more than 35 years, to around 1990, when he underwent open-heart surgery. Having been a rancher his entire life, his heart problems made for a big change.
“I raised cattle and spent most of my life on a horse. I loved horses. I had a team of horses and driving horses and saddle horses,” he says. “I got to where I couldn’t feed them in the winter, couldn’t take care of them, so I had to get rid of them. It was very hard. I had to retire when I was about 70 years old, and I moved to town.”
He attributes his most recent heart troubles to what he calls a fluid problem that came on after his open-heart surgery. Fluid would collect in his legs and feet. He often felt winded and tired. Though he doesn’t know why he started to feel worse recently, it reached a point where his usual provider at Veterans Affairs referred him to Monument Health, the Heart and Vascular Institute and Dr. Tuma.
The synthetic valve implanted during the TAVR acts just like a healthy valve and relieves symptoms like chest pain or the shortness of breath that Donald was experiencing. The TAVR procedure is minimally invasive. So, after it was finished, Donald stayed in the hospital overnight, then went home the next morning.
“After the TAVR, it just turned around almost the next day. It’s gone back the other way ever since. And here I am, almost 101,” he says.
Donald is the only World War II veteran left in Weston County, Wyoming. He served active duty in the army and in the reserves from 1945 to 1951. “I was on my way to the invasion of Japan when Truman signed the order to use the A-bomb, so I ended up on Okinawa for a year after World War II ended. I was only 18 years old,” he says.
A historian and researcher, these days Donald is involved in different historical endeavors in Upton. He owns the Red Onion Museum there, which specializes in the pioneer and western history of that area of Wyoming.
Then there are his two vintage cars.
He bought a 1936 Ford coupe at the beginning of his senior year in high school, then sold it when he joined the service. He was able to get it back again afterward, though. “My son and I got it out of a junk pile, and we rebuilt it from scratch, so it’s very special,” he says. “I had other old cars. I sold some of them, but I’ve kept these two: the ‘26 and the ‘36, because they’re both coupes. They don’t take up much room in my shop, where they’ve been for 40 years.”
Last summer, Donald led a parade in Upton as grand marshal, driving his treasured 1926 automobile. He was in three other parades in Newcastle, Moorcroft and Sundance, as well.
“I enjoy life. I’m a member of the Masonic Lodge in Upton, and I’m still treasurer. We have a lot of community projects going and I’ve always enjoyed being involved in them,” he says.
Overall, Donald says he feels good. Sure, he has problems, yet he and his providers find ways to work around them. He became a widower seven years ago when he lost his wife of 72 years. However, having a son and a daughter, five grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren, he’s got a lot of reasons to stick around. Now, thanks to the TAVR procedure, Donald’s heart can finally keep up with him.
“It made all the difference in the world for me — that heart valve transplant when I was 99 years old. I appreciate all the good things that Monument Health has done for me,” he says.
Thanks to Monument Health and Dr. Tuma, Donald is making history every day.
Story by Kory Lanphear
Photo by Erika Bratten-Cianca