Chef is beating the odds with mechanical heart
Brad Smoliak no longer wears his heart on his sleeve. Instead, it is tucked snugly into a pocket on the front of his T-shirt.
“It’s not actually my heart,” says one of Edmonton’s most celebrated chefs. “It’s a battery-driven pump that keeps me alive by sending oxygenated blood around my body. I no longer have a pulse — the blood has a constant flow.”
Smoliak was born with his heart literally backward, a congenital defect called transposition of the great vessels (TGV).
“When Brad was born in 1966, only a small percentage of TGV infants survived,” says his wife Leanne Smoliak. “He was 11 days old when he had his first surgery at the U of A hospital. Doctors thought it unlikely he would make it through his toddler years.
Miraculously, he did.”
February is Heart Month and the University Hospital has declared Thursday Heart Pledge Day and will hold its annual radiothon supporting the Mazankowski Heart Institute.
“We can’t praise the Maz enough,” said Brad Smoliak, who owns Kitchen by Brad just north of Jasper Avenue on 105 Street.
“I am alive today because of its skilled cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, cardiac care professionals and researchers. We have launched a $1-million fundraising drive in support of the Mazankowski hospital.”
After initial treatment in Edmonton, Smoliak went to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children where he underwent the Mustard Procedure, a surgery in its infancy.
“They essentially flipped his heart, but medical staff estimated Brad’s survival chances were only three per cent,” said his wife. “Brad again beat the odds.”
While future problems were always expected, he discovered his flair for creating sumptuous meals and became executive chef of Normand’s Restaurant and the Royal Mayfair Golf and Country Club. He also co-founded the Hardware Grill and served as chairman of the Edmonton Downtown Farmers’ Market Association. A career highlight was being invited to cook for Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Edmonton in 2005.
Foodies won’t forget Smoliak’s creativity led to a world first, Bacon Jam.
Leanne Smoliak said it was always known her husband’s heart would inevitably be compromised and result in trouble.
“During the last 10 years or so, he has had issues, but they were dealt with at the Mazankowski Institute by some of the world’s top cardiac specialists,” she said.
The couple’s worst dreams were realized in the fall of 2018 when Smoliak went into latestage heart failure and was told he required a heart transplant.
But a heart transplant could not be performed because his organs had sustained much damage over the years. The pressure in his lungs was too high to support a healthy heart.
“We were devastated until we were introduced to Dr. Holger Buchholz, who had been brought over from Germany by the Mazankowski Hospital to head an artificial heart program,” said Leanne Smoliak.
Buchholz told the couple of the ventricular assist device (VAD) — essentially an artificial heart — that could be inserted if Smoliak’s tests proved positive.
“It was scary,” she said. “We knew he could die on the table. He had a lot against him, but he also had a lot going for him — a tremendous will to live.”
It was a long surgery day on Jan. 18, 2019. Edmonton’s Dr. Darren Freed performed the
VAD surgery and Dr. Joseph Atallah added the pacemaker and defibrillator under the guidance of Buchholz.
“The team was fantastic,” said Brad Smoliak. “If all goes well, my organs will recover and I may be viable for a heart transplant in the future. If not, I am content to live with the VAD. Doctors try to tell me there may be problems ahead. But I shrug them off. I wake up in the morning, see the sun and think I have another great day to enjoy.”
The couple took some 40 hours of tutoring on the alarms that would sound if there was a failure in any facet of a complicated pump system.
“We both had to learn what to do in the event of a particular alarm,” said Smoliak. “There is a chance I would be alone when my life was at stake.”
Mazankowski planners showed great foresight in recruiting Buchholz as our country’s population ages, said Leanne Smoliak.
“We will need more heart transplants in future and while more organs are now available, the need is still greater than the supply,” she said. “This means many people will die before a heart is found for them. But a VAD can help in the wait.”
Smoliak says he and his wife are happy to accept nickels, quarters, loonies and toonies for their $1-million campaign to help the Mazankowski’s VAD program.
“If we don’t raise the million at least we know we will have raised $1 million in awareness,” said Smoliak, who is now working six- to 12-hour days with a grin on his face. The couple will hold a fundraiser March 21 at the Canadian Brewhouse’s Ellerslie Road location. “We are looking for live and silent auction donations,” said Leanne Smoliak. “For tickets or to donate in any way, please contact me at lsmoliak@shaw.ca.”