This story originally appeared in our November/December 2021 issue as "Cardiac Crisis." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
The symptoms that brought Louis to the Keck Hospital of University of Southern California seemed less than concerning at first glance. The 41-year-old said he’d been feeling weak and short of breath for the past three weeks, and his feet were swollen.
But vague symptoms can sometimes conceal life-threatening dangers. Soon after arriving, Louis spiraled into respiratory distress, spurring doctors to rush him to the intensive care unit and place him on mechanical ventilation. There, a rapid-fire series of diagnostic tests revealed an escalating crisis: Louis had lymphoma, a cancer that affects the body’s pathogen-fighting lymphatic system. Unnoticed, the cancer had spread, eventually sending him into shock as his organs began to shut down.
Soon after, several young doctors heard an alarm for the hospital’s cardiology unit. It was Louis. Unconscious and already fighting for his life, Louis was now facing another dire prognosis: The electrocardiogram monitoring his heart had flagged a possible heart attack.
