Greg and Lynn Powers pose for a photo with two of their family members.When Greg and Lynn Powers went to bed on a chilly Wednesday night in January 2010, they never expected the turn their lives would take.

Lynn heard a snoring noise from Greg’s side of the bed, gently tapped him to get him to stop snoring, but he didn’t stop.

“I could tell something wasn’t just quite right,” she said. “He didn’t look like himself and he wasn’t responding.”

She called 911 and Greg was rushed to the hospital with a life-threatening heart rhythm condition. Doctors shocked his heart more than 40 times in four hours to keep him alive.

Cardiologists and electrophysiologists at the Spectrum Health Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center determined that Greg was having premature ventricular contractions, which means the top and bottom chambers of his heart were not working in sync, causing a dangerous rhythm.

“The bottom part of the heart suddenly starts racing, and it races so fast that it can’t pump blood to the rest of the body,” said Darryl Elmouchi, MD.

The team assembled late in the evening – many coming from home – to perform a cardiac ablation procedure that ultimately led to Greg’s recovery.

His is one of many stories at Spectrum Health that show the power of the heart center and the specialists who work there.

“The type of procedures we do, which 20 years ago would have been unheard of, are things like catheter ablations,” Dr. Elmouchi said. “We have technology that is leap years ahead of many other institutions, even of similar size.”

He said Spectrum Health is a special place to work as it has the expertise to help patients like Greg.

“Meijer Heart Center has world class heart care, including electrophysiology,” Dr. Elmouchi said.

In fact, Spectrum Health offers the only comprehensive heart rhythm program in West Michigan—and one of the leading programs in the nation. Its electrophysiologists (cardiologists who specialize in treating your heart’s electrical system) evaluate, treat and manage more patients experiencing heart rhythm disorders than any other hospital in the state.

Greg said he can’t thank them enough. “It’s been tremendous,” he said.

Lynn tears up when talking about the doctors and nurses at Spectrum Health. “I can’t thank them enough for doing what they did to help my husband,” she said.

To view more patient stories on heart & vascular care, click here.