A Daughter’s Love

When Joan­na Shipe was in col­lege, a life-chang­ing phone call shat­tered her world. Her dad had suf­fered a mas­sive heart attack and was diag­nosed with con­ges­tive heart fail­ure. Doc­tors told him he had just three years to live unless he received a heart trans­plant. Watch­ing her father fight for his life ignit­ed some­thing in Joan­na — a real­iza­tion that her own health need­ed atten­tion too. 

“My dad taught me so much,” she said. ​“After being a life­long smok­er, he stopped smok­ing because he decid­ed he need­ed that heart. He didn’t give up, even when things were at their hardest.” 

Joan­na left col­lege and moved home to care for her dad. She jug­gled the demands of work, home­own­er­ship, and his med­ical needs. On Valentine’s Day, he passed away from mul­ti-sys­tem organ fail­ure. His loss was a pro­found wake-up call for Joanna. 

“My health real­ly spi­raled over the next few years after my dad had passed,” she said. ​“That was because I had neglect­ed my health for so long while I took care of him.” 

Neglect­ing her­self dur­ing his ill­ness had tak­en a toll, and Joan­na began to face her own health chal­lenges. In 2010, she under­went lap band surgery and lost 80 pounds, but com­pli­ca­tions from fibromyal­gia and arthri­tis forced its removal. At 29, a physician’s blunt advice marked anoth­er turn­ing point. 

“They said, ​‘Let’s get you to 40,’ and that was eye-open­ing,” Joan­na recalled. 

She com­mit­ted to a well­ness jour­ney, joined the YMCA, and stayed active. Her deter­mi­na­tion paid off — she reversed her dia­betes and achieved mile­stones she once thought impossible. 

When her weight began to climb again after tak­ing a seden­tary job, Joan­na turned to her trust­ed pri­ma­ry care provider, QMG Fam­i­ly Prac­tice Physi­cian, Dr. Divya Batra.

“She’s real­ly invest­ed in me over the years. She nev­er gave up on me, and she could have,” Joan­na said. ​“When you don’t feel good and just need to know some­one cares, that’s what she did.” 

Joan­na lat­er under­went bariatric surgery and lost 180 pounds between her per­son­al efforts and the pro­ce­dure. Con­cerned about her fam­i­ly his­to­ry of heart issues, she also con­sult­ed QMG Car­di­ol­o­gist Dr. Adam Rafi to avoid the path her father had endured. 

In 2020, Dr. Rafi per­formed a heart catheter­i­za­tion that revealed two block­ages at 40%. By 2024, anoth­er heart catheter­i­za­tion revealed five block­ages, includ­ing two that were crit­i­cal­ly severe. 

“One was almost 80% blocked, and anoth­er was 90% blocked,” Joan­na shared. ​“Dr. Rafi was able to stent those.” 

Joan­na cred­its Dr. Rafi for his dili­gence and com­pas­sion­ate care. 

“I val­ue him. I don’t know that he always gives him­self the cred­it he deserves. He hasn’t giv­en up on me, and that’s meant the world to me,” she said. 

For Joan­na, her health remains a life­long jour­ney inspired by her dad’s resilience. 

“I will nev­er stop try­ing, and my dad taught me that because he just didn’t give up,” she said. ​“He fought until he could­n’t fight any­more. And I think that’s what defines us as peo­ple. You know, yes, we get knocked down, but we get back up and we keep trying.”