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Dr. Leonard Steinberg, Jenna McCormick and Dr. Jason Gilge. Photo provided
INDIANAPOLIS — Jenna McCormick, a 20-year old who graduated from Frontier in 2021, began having problems with fatigue while in high school. She was a 3-sport athlete and suffered episodes of extreme fatigue, which she pushed through to compete in volleyball, basketball and track until she graduated. She received a full scholarship to Indiana University, but her symptoms just got worse.
When she was 16, McCormick’s pediatrician noticed she had a slow resting heart rate on a few of her visits, and ordered a Holter monitor, a 24-hour heart monitor, to see what was happening with her heart rate, which would often run about 30 beats per minute, the usual is 60-90. The monitor confirmed she had bradycardia, a slow heart beat, and this was the cause of her fatigue and exhaustion.
Some days, she would struggle to get through the school day without falling asleep in classes and the teachers were made aware of her diagnosis. Unfortunately, there are no medications that can help bring up the heart rate, so she managed.
Jenna McCormick before treatment.
Last year, the problem was affecting her college grades and her life. She went to her pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Leonard Steinberg, who did not feel a pacemaker, the usual treatment for the diagnosis, was an appropriate treatment for her age so he found a newer treatment that has been proven effective for bradycardia.
He explained the surgery was pioneered 20 years ago, but did not gain much interest until recently. The procedure, cardioneuroablation, involves cauterizing the nerves of the heart that are causing the slow down of the heart beat. He said some nerves can cause the heart beat to speed up, others can cause it to slow down. It’s an electrical issue in the heart.
“Jenna had nerve inputs causing her heart to slow down,” Steinberg explained. “There are lots of reasons why a heart is too slow.” He said she was a good candidate to undergo the procedure.
He teamed up with another cardiologist, Dr. Jason Gilge, and the two doctors partnered to perform the cardioneuroablation, the first such procedure for Steinberg.
In August 2023, she underwent the outpatient procedure and Steinberg said her prognosis looks excellent. She is symptom free right now. McCormick, her mother Heather and Steinberg agree this was a much better choice for her than getting a pacemaker. With pacemakers, wiring has to be reinserted, batteries replaced and a pacemaker could increase her morbidity.
The semester after the surgery, Jenna got her first 4.0, making all A’s, and is on track for the same in her second semester.
The surgery was close to the beginning of the fall semester. “I was able to stay awake in class, get more involved and do more,” she said. “I’ve always been a busy person. I was in five clubs in high school and I was fairly functional.”
McCormick is feeling so much better and is able to do much more than she’s ever been able to do. She is taking self-defense classes in Ju Jitsu and doing very well. “I’m happy to be able to do all these things again. All my life I’ve been very busy. It was frustrating when I couldn’t do those things. I’m able to do things I never thought I’d be able to do.”
Steinberg said, “It was a thrill of a lifetime to be able to do something like this for someone her age. We’re really pleased to see how well she is doing.”
Heather McCormick said they had built a good relationship with Dr. Steinberg, and were comfortable with her undergoing the surgery. Before the procedure, she said she would get calls from Jenna, who was stressed about her classes and her declining health. She would call her mom in tears. “I could tell she was exhausted,” she said. Now, she doesn’t get those calls any more.
Jenna is majoring in Language and Hearing Science with plans to be a speech therapist, and after graduating in 2025, plans to further her education to receive a master’s degree.
She had gone into pre-nursing classes and decided that was not for her, so she looked at other health care options and discovered this therapy and became very interested in the field.
Next month, she will join a group of therapy students majoring in all kinds of therapy, from physical therapy to hearing and speech, who are going to Thailand to learn and explore for 10 days. This will be her first trip overseas and she is very excited. For a portion of the trip, she will be observing speech therapy for children in the city of Chiang Mai. She will be taking notes and learning during her time in Thailand.
The group will also do sightseeing, exploring some of the country’s temples and other sites.
“I’m very grateful to have the comfort in not dealing with health challenges,” she said. “It will make the experience more enjoyable.”
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