It's Survivor Series Saturday Featuring Scott Lum!

We're honored to introduce the newest story in our Saturday Survivor Series featuring Scott Lum, pictured here with a big smile! ❤️

Scott lives in Hawaii however his medical event took place while traveling away from home in Japan. We are deeply grateful that he has chosen to share his journey with us.

His story is one of strength, resilience, and hope—a powerful reminder of why sharing our experiences matters. We hope his words inspire, educate, and encourage everyone who reads them.

Please join us in giving Scott a warm Aortic Hope welcome and feel free to leave a message of support in the comments below. 💙

I suffered my Aortic Dissection March 4, 2017 in Osaka Japan.

That morning would be no different from any other morning in Japan. I got up early and headed to the Gym for a work out. Upon completing my work out that morning. I was preparing to meet a co worker for breakfast.

I called and mentioned that I was running a little late and could we push the meeting time back by 15 minutes. We met and walked to the restaurant. Ordered our breakfast and chatted about the up coming day and my workout.

Just when our food came to the table, I suffered my dissection.

It felt like I had a fish bone on my throat and I couldn’t breathe very well. She ask if she should call for an ambulance, I nodded yes. She turn to tell the manager to call and the manager was already on the phone requesting an ambulance. I somehow managed to get to the front door of the restaurant where I collapsed and black out.

Moments later when the ambulance arrived I regain conscious for a moment as they were placing me in the ambulance.

Next time I woke up in a hospital ER room. Not sure how long I was un conscious, but there were a few co workers standing in the ER room with me. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me at the time.

I told one doctor to cut off my right arm from my elbow down to my finger tips. Because of the pain I was feeling because I wasn’t getting enough or any blood there.

He says wait one minute while they sent me to get a Cat scan. Not even 3 seconds into the Cat scan, the doctor was yelling that I needed Emergency Surgery. I lost consciousness again.

When I awoke, I was in another specialty hospital 25 minutes outside of Downtown Osaka, Japan. In a town called Suta. They concentrate on Heart Issues ONLY. My daughter and one of my very good friends were standing in my recovery room at the time.

I spent 30 days there recovering. I had numerous co workers visit me while I was there. I really appreciated that. My wife flew in and stayed with me for about 2 weeks.

I finally was cleared to be released and able to fly home to Honolulu. During the summer I endured countless test and scans. The found that the patch initial surgery wasn’t holding. There was a leak, a concerning leak.

My case was turned over to Dr David Craig Miller a Leading Thoracic Cardiologist in the country at Stanford Hospital. He says he can fix everything!

In September 2017 I flew to Palo Alto and checked in the hospital. He repaired my aorta, replaced with a mechanical valve, replaced my arch and in his words telling me I didn’t need a by pass at the time.

But since he was in there he did a triple by pass.

Spent 2 weeks in an induced coma in the ICU. Then spent 3 months recovering.  

I had to learn how to walk again.

Also I had renal care 3 times a week because my kidneys were almost completely shut down.

I had to go to re habilitation which took another 2 weeks before being fully released to go home.

I finally was able to sleep in my own house and bed right before Thanksgiving 2017.

Since All my check ups, scans and tests have All come back as close to normal as it will ever get. I was fighting to try to return to work. But the company I worked for and my care team Highly Advise Against it.

Since then I try to keep myself in some sort of shape. Mostly doing very low impact exercises and activities. Spending A lot of time with my Family!

It’s very scary feeling going through what I went through. But I Trusted my Family and Care Team, came through with flying colors. I was prepared to not open my eyes ever again. But since I was able to open my eyes, I appreciate Everything even more now! Very Lucky to Survive! Also Very Lucky to have a Great support group like my Family, Friends and Care Team!!

Thank You for allowing me to share this.

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