(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A U.S. Army veteran is in good spirits after surgeons at Northwestern Medicine were able to preserve a meaningful tattoo during a heart transplant.
Just before Thanksgiving of 2023, then-65-year-old Louis Smith was told he needed a new heart. His was functioning at only 10% after serving 21 years in the U.S. Army.
Smith said he wasn't scared or nervous. He did, though, have one request for his surgeon.
“‘If I have to have this new heart, can you make sure that when you cut me … can you try to save the tattoo a little bit?’” he said. “Because it’s a saying that me and my father used to say. We used to listen to the song by Frank Sinatra, ‘I Did it My Way,’ and that’s our saying.”
Smith's surgeon Benjamin Bryner made sure both the incision and stitches would preserve every inch of Smith’s tattoo.
“There’s no way to do a transplant without leaving a scar behind, but we take all the time we can to get the tattoos to, at least, line up, and I was happy with the results for him,” Bryner said.
Following his surgery, Smith said he's as good as new.
“I’m back cutting grass; I’m back riding bikes; I’m back riding my motorcycle; I’m swimming,” he said. “What can you ask for?”
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