Country Club Hills Man Looks Forward to Swimming Again after Silver Cross Heart Team Finds and Removes Benign Tumor

As a truant officer/de-escalator in an alternative school, Timothy Scott is used to dealing with crises. 

When he had one of his own late last year, the 62-year-old Country Club Hills resident is thankful the heart team at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox was there to save his life. 

“I believe God put me in their hands at Silver Cross because He knows I have more work to do with those kids,” Scott said. 

Scott said he had dealt with heart arrythmias since childhood, but they had been infrequent and not much of an issue until late October last year. 

“One morning, I had gone swimming as usual and didn’t feel well as I was getting ready for work. My heart was beating really fast. Once I got a hold of my primary care physician, he did an EKG, and it looked like there was some trouble. 

“He referred me to Dr. Abdul Sankari, an interventional cardiologist at Silver Cross,” he said. “And he ordered an ultrasound of my heart.” 

When they detected an abnormality, Dr. Sankari ordered an MRI of Scott’s heart. 

“It turns out I had a tumor growing in my left ventricle that was crowding out the area around the heart. It’s benign, thank God, but I was referred to Dr. Pat Pappas for surgery.” 

Scott was understandably worried about open-heart surgery … until he started asking around about Dr. Pappas, one of the foremost cardiothoracic surgeons in the nation. 

“The nurse at my school looked him up, and she said, ‘Wow. He is a really good doctor.’ I did some research and found he was listed as second in the nation for heart surgeries. When I went in for my operation, the anesthesiologist said, ‘No. Dr. Pappas is Number One.’” 

Scott, added, “I felt so much better after hearing all the praise for Dr. Pappas.” 

Scott was told surgery went very well, but says his initial appearance scared his wife of 37 years, Sandra, who saw him later that day. 

“I was still out from surgery, in bed with all these tubes. But when she came back the next day, I was sitting up in a chair, wide awake. I still had some tubes in me, but I was doing so much better already. She was flabbergasted,” he added. 

Scott was home six days later with instructions not to lift or strain too much.

 “That was hard for me, because I’m very active. I love swimming and playing basketball,” said Scott, who turned 62 on Feb. 13. “Dr. Pappas said that should be no problem once I’m healed. So, I’ve just been watching Oscar-nominated movies and reading my Bible.” 

“I just can’t tell you how grateful I am that they caught this, and that I got such wonderful care at Silver Cross. All the people who helped me were just wonderful, and I can’t thank them enough.” 

For more information about heart care at Silver Cross, or to schedule a $49 heart scan, visit silvercross.org/heart