MARINETTE COUNTY, Wis. — It’s a disease that kills about 158,000 Americans each year.

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) alters your heart rate, which can easily lead to blood clots and fatal strokes. Blood thinners have been a vital treatment many depend on to lower those risks.

Wayne Christiansen is all too familiar with these treatments after being diagnosed with AFib in 2007. 

That led Christiansen to join a medical trial at Advocate Aurora Health.

A medical device was placed in his heart to help prevent blood clots and the chance to do away with blood thinners. Christiansen’s life has changed drastically.

“I started freaking out, it was just a light blood and everything,” Christiansen said, recalling a recent minor nose bleed. “It went away in a few minutes, so that was very rewarding. I don’t think I [even] went in the house, filled my handkerchief a bit, but it brought back bad memories.”

The incident brought up memories of when he was hit by his horse while on blood thinners. It scared his wife.

“She knew about the blood thinners,” Christiansen recalled. “That was the first thing she said when I got hit by the horse.” 

After shattering his knee in 26 pieces, with extensive blood loss, the decision to install the device was easy to make.  

Working on the ranch was always a risk. He knew a minor incident could be life threatening.

“[A horse] would bite me on the shoulder, and I would be all bruised, and I was on blood thinners then, I’d bruise up,” said Christiansen. “My whole shoulder would just turn purple.”

The clinical trial is underway at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, which will evaluate the efficacy of the device.

Dr. Jasbir Sra, electrophysiologist and Advocate Aurora Research Institute site principal investigator, oversees this trial.

“The risk of putting the device is low, and the efficacy is more than 95%, then it will make sense, you know treating somebody for the rest of their life after a 2 hour procedure rather than them taking the medication for the rest of their life,” Dr. Sra said.

Christiansen said his day-to-day life isn’t consumed by worrying about the small stuff. He’s able to focus on his nonprofit organization sharing his love for horses.  

“We want kids to come out here and have the chance to play with horses,” Christiansen said. “This past weekend we had girls ages six and eight come out here and just have fun with horses together.”

The trial is expected to last for at least another year.

It will collect data hoping to make this medical device a standard treatment for anyone diagnosed with AFib.