CLEVELAND — Daniel Jayaseelan spent the long holiday weekend celebrating Independence Day with his wife and three small children.
But the family is celebrating much more than the holiday.
“Extremely grateful, thankful to God,” said Jayaseelan.
Jayaseelan recently accepted a job in Huron and Mother’s Day, the family left Indiana headed for Sandusky.
They checked into the hotel and he went to pick up food when things took a turn.
"I started to feel shortness of breath, really nauseated, my jaws were paining really bad. I googled it and it showed it was as symptom of a heart attack,” Jayaseelan explained.
But it was something more rare.
Jayaseelan went to the local emergency room where he was diagnosed with an aortic dissection.
“Which is a tear from the inside of the major blood vessel coming out of the heart, the aorta and that by all definitions is a surgical emergency,” explained Dr Daniel Burns, Cleveland Clinic.
Jayaseelan was airlifted to Cleveland Clinic and the 40-year-old father of three underwent an eight-hour surgery.
His wife, Esther, relied on her faith.
“Everyone was calling me and telling me we’re praying for you and don’t worry, and I could feel that,” explained Esther.
After recovering for three weeks in the hospital, Daniel Jayaseelan said he is feeling great and getting better every day, giving the family more to celebrate during the Fourth of July weekend.
The family credits good timing and the fact that the incident happened while they were so close to the great care at the Cleveland Clinic.
“The whole thing was just a miracle, how we were at the right place at the right time,“ said Esther.
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