- Posted on February 5, 2025
Heart Month Feature: Richard Szymczyk
How surgery at St. Mary’s led to years of new memories
It’s been nearly two decades since Dr. Yves Leclerc and his team saved Richard Szymczyk’s life at St. Mary’s General Hospital.
Now 90 years old, Richard still thinks about how an emergency-room visit at 72 led him into the hands of one of Canada’s top cardiac surgeons.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I was to be at the right place at the right time,” says Richard, who lives more than 200 kilometres away from Kitchener in Baltimore, Ont.
In 2006, Richard had been visiting friends in Guelph, Ont., for a Boxing Day dinner when his mouth began to droop, and he started slurring his words. Richard’s friend drove him to nearby Guelph General Hospital, where tests revealed he had suffered a TIA (transient ischemic attack), also known as a ministroke.
A second look, a second chance
The doctor in Guelph sent Richard to the Regional Cardiac Care Centre in Kitchener for further assessment. Tests there showed three of his arteries were 90 per cent blocked while another had a 30 per cent blockage.
Within two weeks, Richard, a non-smoker with a sensible diet and no history of heart disease, was undergoing necessary quadruple bypass surgery – a procedure that has extended his life by 18 years and counting.
The surgery has allowed Richard to continue doing what he loves. In his late-70s, he planned and built his dream home – a space that’s given him countless memories with family and friends for the last 13 years.
Many hats
Over the last nine decades, Richard has held many titles: father, grandfather, teacher, principal, board member, superintendent, world traveler, and even award-winning accordionist.
As a youth, he would make an annual trek from his then home in Hamilton to Waterloo for the national accordion championships, winning gold in 1952 and 1954.
“So, you could say the Kitchener area has always had a place in my heart,” Richard says with a chuckle.
In 2023, 17 years after his surgery, Richard made his first donation to the hospital after hearing of the Cardiac Centre’s 20th anniversary. In December 2024, he donated again.
“I’m almost 91 years old and still active in the community, and that’s largely thanks to Dr. Leclerc and his team,” Richard says. “I continue living a very active and interesting life because of them.
I think about them every day. And I’m thankful for them every day.
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