Thankful People: Quintuple bypass survivor thankful for boss's checkup advice

Dan Zembsch considered himself to be in pretty good shape for a 62-year-old, but a health checkup at the behest of his employer revealed significant heart issues that ultimately required bypass surgery.
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When Dan Zembsch was hiking steep hills and trails in Arizona with his wife in October 2020, he thought to himself, "Man, for 62 years old, I'm in pretty good shape!"

Little did Zembsch know, he was walking around with five large blockages in his heart.

It wasn't until about four months later Zembsch learned of the blockages, and one of his cardiologists said he was "on the verge of a major heart attack."

He underwent quintuple bypass surgery about a week after receiving his diagnosis. During the three-hour surgery, Zembsch said he had five sections of artery harvested from his leg to replace clogged vessels in his heart.

"It was definitely a huge shock," Zembsch said. "My blockages were 75, 85, 90, 95 and 100%, so they were pretty bad blockages, and it's just pretty amazing that I didn't have any symptoms."

Because he considered himself to be healthy, exercised regularly and watched his diet, Zembsch said he never would have gone to get checked out if it hadn't been for his boss at SERVPRO of Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties -- Richard Hastings.

Hastings spoke with his employees about a procedure he had in January 2021 due to issues with his blood pressure and urged them to go and get their blood pressure checked if they hadn't recently during a meeting on Feb. 1.

After the meeting, Zembsch underwent a stress test Feb. 3, an angiogram Feb. 5 and was scheduled for quintuple bypass surgery four days later.

"If he hadn't shared his story with us, I never would have known, or I wouldn't have gone in when I did, and maybe it would have been too late," Zembsch said. "I told [Hastings] he probably saved my life, and he said, 'Well, I don't think I really did -- God just kind of told me that someone in the company needed to get checked out, and I guess that someone was you.'"

Now, Zembsch aims to do the same thing for others that Hastings did for him by sharing his story and helping to spread awareness about the dangers of heart disease and the importance of regular check-ups.

Zembsch said his family has a longstanding history of heart disease, so he urges those with a family history of the disease to get checked regularly, as well.

"There's gotta be a lot more people out there that are walking around with heart disease that are completely unaware of it, just like I was," Zembsch said. "So, I try to share my story as much as possible because you might be walking around and feeling fine, but you just never know what's going on on the inside."

Zembsch said despite the shocking diagnosis, he didn't feel afraid when going into surgery because he took a page from Hastings' book and decided to "just put it in God's hands." Instead, he felt "at peace" with his diagnosis.

Zembsch added he has a higher appreciation for life now than before receiving his diagnosis.

"I definitely gained more of an appreciation for life, not that I didn't have an appreciation for life before because I definitely did, but I did gain some appreciation and now I really look forward to each day."

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