Teresa U., IN

In December of 2015 my husband asked me to take advantage of a $49 lung scan at Ball Hospital in Muncie, Indiana. Being a smoker I thought it was a good idea. Why not!

Instead of hearing the outcome in 7-10 days my phone rang early the next morning. My first thought was, oh no, I've waited too long to quit smoking and I'm in trouble. Well, on one hand I was lucky, no problem with my lungs, but they said we have an incidental finding. That finding was a descending thoracic aortic aneurysm.

I was told they would fax the screening to my primary physician and I should follow up with calling them immediately. Fast forward to August 11, 2016, after checkups showing growth my aneurysm dissected and I had what's called Type ll TAAA surgery on December 8, 2016. My incision is from my left shoulder blade to below my belly button. Eleven and a half hours of surgery, and I now have a new prosthetic aorta.

That $49 scan saved my life. Aneurisms have no symptoms. And I haven't smoked since December 2016!