After all that Robin Floyd has been through, you might guess she’d sit back and take it easy. But that’s not how she rolls. “I have acquired a Harley with a sidecar. I ride the Harley, and my 95-pound German shepherd rides in the sidecar. I felt like I found life again.”
She’s planning to do something big with that life: take the Harley across the country to raise awareness about the need for heart donors. She’s living proof of how important that gift of life can be.
Floyd’s first sign of heart trouble came on a hot day at home. “I thought I was having a heat stroke in 100-degree weather. I was working with a horse and, like, I just laid on the ground and didn't quite know what was happening. Two weeks later, on a horse trail ride up in North Carolina, same thing happened again,” she said.
“I was so hot. I lay down in the creek. My niece is a nurse. She said, ‘Robin, this is heart-related. We're going to the hospital.’ And we drove all the way back home and went to the hospital in South Carolina. They told me I was in full-blown congestive heart failure.”
Doctors implanted a pacemaker/defibrillator. Floyd said that worked well for about 12 years. Then, she learned she needed a heart transplant. Her doctor connected her with the MUSC Health Heart and Vascular Program, the only team in the state doing heart transplants.
“I stayed in the hospital 20 days. A match came in. They did the surgery February 4 of 2024. Part of the heart wanted to work, and the other part didn’t. So they put me on ECMO and kept me open for a week. I don’t remember any of that. Then they took me off, and I lived.”
ECMO stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a form of life support only available at hospitals capable of performing the complex procedures involved. Read about a recent ECMO reunion here.
Floyd has had some setbacks since the transplant, but that hasn’t kept her from making plans. She’s also participated in In Our DNA SC, a community health research project at MUSC that tells people about their genetic risks for certain health conditions. Floyd learned she was predisposed to developing heart failure. “It’s not a gene, and it’s not that you’re missing a gene. It’s a break in the DNA called the TTN. I carry that.”
She shared the information with her family to try to help relatives who also carry the mutation to catch any health problems early. Floyd is also still recovering from her heart transplant and its aftermath. “I'm two years out, but I am finally going into the gym. And I walk a lot.”
She hopes to ride a lot soon, too – with her 95-pound furry best friend along to help spread the word about heart donation. MUSC Health plans to keep her followers posted on her plans.
Helen Adams
Recent MUSC News stories
