IRVINE – Jen Hyde gasped as she saw the five women walking toward her.
A glass partition separated them. The women walking toward her wore light blue scrubs, face masks, shower caps and gloves.
Hyde knew when she saw their smiling eyes.
These were the women who made up the team at Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences that hand-crafted Hyde’s heart valve, implanted in her chest five years ago.
On Friday, Hyde was one of several patients who visited the Edwards headquarters and got to meet their valve makers.
“It has been really special,” said Hyde, who teaches writing at New York University. “It’s not an opportunity to put a face on any product. This is a product that is mine, that’s in me. I’ll never see it, but it keeps my heart beating. It helps me live.”
The women who sewed her heart valve were Mary Bui, a 16-year Edwards employee and Martha Morales, who has done it for 33 years.
“This is the first time I’ve met a patient,” said Morales as Hyde held her hands. “When I look at her, I can see that my work has value. What I do helps people. To see (Hyde) so happy and healthy makes me so happy.”
The company, for the first time, invited 50 patients and their families to take a tour Friday of the manufacturing facility. Some of the patients got to meet the employees who stitched or put together their device.
The visitors were given a tour of the Edwards campus and led to the building where the lifesaving devices are made. The building features a heart valve museum with valve models from over the years. It also displays interactive videos showing how Edwards’ modern transcatheter valves are slid into the heart through a minimally invasive incision in the patient’s thigh, eliminating the need for open-heart surgery.
Behind the museum is a clean room with large glass windows where hundreds of employees sit in rows, hunched over microscopes – stitching, crafting and assembling the valves.
On Friday, they looked up to wave at visitors. Employee Bella Duyon formed a heart symbol with her hands as visitors took photos with their cellphones.
Norma Ryder, 89, drove from Perris to meet her valve makers, Tracy To and Elaine Tran.
“This has been so emotional for me,” she said. “I’ve been surprised by not just the cleanliness and precision of their work, but by the genuine compassion and concern shown by the employees.”
Jessica Jaboke, 31, of Kansas, said she received a ring made at Edwards, which fixed her leaking heart valve. It has been nine years since her lifesaving surgery and so far, it has worked perfectly.
Jaboke, who recorded a patient video for Edwards a few years ago, said her situation inspired her to become a cardiac sonographer, performing echo cardiograms and stress tests on patients.
“I share my story with them and they are grateful to get that support and know they’re not alone,” she said.
Eileen Bradner, 55, of Arlington, Va., also received a ring to support her valve – 20 years ago. She was a single mother at the time who had just adopted a 3-year-old girl from Russia.
“She had already been orphaned once; I couldn’t bear of idea of her being orphaned for a second time,” Bradner said.
Bradner is now vice president of a local chapter of Mended Hearts, a national nonprofit that offers support for heart patients and their families.
Hyde said meeting the valve makers was significant because her own mother is an accomplished seamstress who has worked in the textile industry in Indonesia.
Hyde marveled at Morales’ hands and nimble fingers.
“Your hands are so tiny!” Hyde exclaimed.
Fabi Cortes, quality control manager on Morales’ team, told Hyde: “Yes, they are tiny, but very special.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
