CINCINNATI — Life can change in the blink of an eye, or in a heartbeat. This is true for one Indiana man whose life was on the line after his heart started to fail. 

Rob Dunbar, 50, considered himself to be relatively healthy, as he exercised regularly and lived an active life. 

But back in October, his health took a turn for the worse.

“I had no idea I had all this going on inside here,” Dunbar said. 

He thought it was the flu or pneumonia, but after visiting an urgent care, he was referred to Mercy Health — West Hospital in Cincinnati. 

Turns out, his heart was only operating at 10%. 

“Because if I would have not came here, I think I would have been dead in a couple of days,” Dunbar said.  

Dunbar was experiencing congestive heart failure. Doctors performed a catheterization and placed an intra-aortic balloon pump to help his heart pump more blood. 

Director of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Mercy Health West Dr. Manisha Patel said this only identified that Dunbar needed more treatment. 

“The squeezing function was extremely poor," Patel explained. 'The heart was very, very weak. The next step was to support his heart until we could get him stable enough to be able to go to the operating room.”

Patel performed quadruple bypass surgery, but three days later, Dunbar’s condition plummeted and he went into cariogenic shock. 

So he was placed on a stronger heart pump system to allow his body to recover, which took 11 days. 

“A constellation of events that basically, ultimately, fortunately managed to get him back home,” Patel said. 

After a 32-day recovery period, Dunbar’s life was saved and he was discharged from the hospital. 

Now he’s been reunited with his care team for the first time. They said his story is what keeps them going. 

“We are really happy that you are here to tell your story. Because it gives us — it feeds the fire. It gives me enough good juju to go out and do my job for the next couple of weeks because some people aren’t so lucky.” 

And Dunbar is back to doing the things he loves, like riding his motorcycle — much to the dismay of Patel. 

“Don’t hurt yourself, please,” she said jokingly. 

“I’ll try not to,” Dunbar said.  

All jokes aside, Dunbar is thankful, not only for the care he received at Mercy Hospital, but also for the second chance he now has, giving this advice to others. 

“Do what you can to take care of yourself because it can all change in a heartbeat,” Dunbar said.