Retired Nurse Airlifted to Life-Saving Surgery

At 10 p.m. New Year’s Day 2025, Petaluma-resident Judy Hillery suddenly felt her jaw clench shut and knew something was very wrong. She alerted her husband to call 911 and their daughter who lives nearby. Within minutes, EMT arrived and transported Judy to her local hospital where a CT scan confirmed her aorta had ballooned, and rupture was imminent.

Judy doesn’t remember much from that night, but her husband Richard and their daughter Kristy – who is an RN with cardiac training – spoke to the ER doctor. They were informed the hospital did not have a cardiothoracic surgeon available or a large team operating room. The doctor began making phone calls to locate a Bay Area hospital that could assemble a surgical team and attempt a New Year’s miracle to save Judy.

After checking with several academic and major medical centers to see which could receive an aortic dissection patient for emergency surgery, one stood at the ready: Washington Health. “A weight came off our shoulders when we found out a hospital could accommodate Judy, though we knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet,” said Richard. Judy recalls seeing Richard and Kristy on the tarmac below as her medevac helicopter took off for the early morning life flight from Petaluma to Fremont.

On Jan. 2, renowned UCSF cardiothoracic surgeon and Washington Health Medical Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery Ramin Beygui, MD, and his team successfully performed emergency open heart surgery to repair Judy’s aorta. Richard and Kristy arrived by car in time for the surgery. “We bonded with the team immediately, as they were so caring and communicated everything we needed to know about what was happening with Judy,” said Richard. “Afterward, Dr. Beygui looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Mrs. Hillery is a fighter. Most people in her condition don’t survive the surgery.’”

Judy certainly is a fighter, and she knows about good nursing care. Now 84, she is a retired nurse who was recruited by the Army from her Philadelphia hospital in 1966 to serve in Japan, treating injured soldiers transferred during the Vietnam War. Most recently, she was director of a nursing home near her Petaluma home.

Richard and their two daughters, Kristy and Kimberly, were by Judy’s bedside every day during her 15-day stay at Washington Hospital and were impressed with the “super caring teams of top-notch nurses.”

Now a year later, Judy gets winded more easily, but she’s back to enjoying time with her girls and three grandsons. The Hillerys look back on that difficult time with a positive, appreciative perspective. “We are so grateful to Dr. Beygui for giving us more time with Judy,” said Richard. “At Judy’s follow-up visit, I gave him a big hug and told him he is our hero. In addition to being an outstanding surgeon, he has a warm human touch, is genuinely caring, and is simply an amazing person.”

For more information on Dr. Beygui or Washington Health’s Cardiac Services, go to WashingtonHealth.com/Heart