Heart care at Baptist Health Paducah gives avid golfer his second shot at life

Golf is Tommy Thomas’ lifelong love, his source of joy, and though he may not have realized it at the time, his greatest teacher in resilience. 

If you get him talking about it – clear your afternoon. 

“My mom used to tell her friends, ‘Oh, he’s married. He’s married to golf,’” he laughed. 

When he was in 10th grade, Tommy started the golf team at Paducah Tilghman High School, and later in life he would become a city and club champion. 

He often plays from sunrise to sundown without wearing down.

“My buddies would quit before me, and I’d say, ‘what’s wrong with you? I can play till dark.’” Tommy said. 

So last year, when the man who never tired on the course suddenly found himself running out of steam, it was unusual. It started with intense sweating after walking up a hill in Nashville, which he brushed off as a symptom of his age. But deep down, Tommy knew something was off. 

Back home in Paducah, he told his girlfriend over breakfast, “I need to go to the hospital.” It was the kind of gut decision that golfers trust – reading the wind and knowing when something isn’t right. 

At Baptist Health Paducah, an EKG showed nothing out of the ordinary. But during a stress test, Tommy’s competitive streak almost got the best of him. 

“I knew I was struggling,” Tommy recalled. “When I finished, I passed out. That’s when they said, ‘Mr. Thomas, you’re having a heart attack.’” 

On the gurney, Tommy had what he calls a surreal moment of peace. 

“I started floating away, watching myself get smaller and smaller. I thought I might be dying, and if I was, that would be okay, because I’d never felt so peaceful,” Tommy said. “Then they hit me with the paddles, and it felt like thunder and lightning in my head. That’s when I thought, maybe it’s good they’re working to bring me back.” 

He flatlined four times, and each time, the Baptist team pulled him back. Cardiologist Sanjay Bose, MD, placed stents and inserted an Impella pump to keep his heart working. But Tommy’s condition worsened, and soon, cardiothoracic surgeon Austin Ward, MD, made the call: open-heart surgery couldn’t wait until Monday. 

“I asked him, ‘do you work on Saturdays?’ and he said, ‘not normally, but this Saturday, I am.’ For him to give up his day off to save me,” Tommy paused, tearfully. “I just thought that was sensational.” 

Dr. Ward performed a five-bypass surgery that morning. Tommy spent 13 days in the hospital and has been working on his recovery ever since. That includes complications from a second hip replacement, unrelated to the issues with his heart. 

His sights are still set on getting back to the course. 

“I’ve only played golf once in eight months, but I’m coming back,” Tommy said. “Golf teaches you about adversity – how you respond to bad shots, how you keep going. And sometimes, you get that one perfect shot, what I call a ‘comeback shot,’ that keeps you playing.” 

This second chance from Dr. Ward, Dr. Bose, and the entire Baptist Health Paducah heart care team is Tommy’s chance for that comeback, and his gratitude shines through. 

“I’m so over the moon about Baptist heart care,” Tommy said. “I tell people, you can go anywhere – New York, Houston, Mayo Clinic – you’re not going to get better care than right here. People are dying to get in there, just so they can have a new life. That’s what happened to me. I was dying and they gave me a new life.” 

With every step back toward the fairway, Tommy carries a deeper appreciation for life, friendship, and the donors who make advanced care possible in his hometown. It reminds him of why he loves the game so much – because sometimes, against all odds, you’re given a fresh start. 

“Every now and then, you get a little touch of heaven,” he said. “Just like the best do all the time.”