CT woman in heart failure had fortitude ‘nothing short of heroic.’ What it inspired her doctor to do

Hartford Courant – Wednesday, March 25, 2026
By Pamela McLoughlin

A Connecticut cardiac surgeon was so inspired by the “grit” and “resilience” of a patient in heart failure that he’s invented a medical device so others won’t need so much of those those rare personality qualities the patient has.

Thousands of lives could potentially be saved and improved over the years if the invention, now in the advanced stage, were approved.

It all started when Laura Terranova, then 46, and in the best shape of her life went to the hospital emergency department after a week of worsening flu symptoms that were confirmed twice by her doctor.

But doctors at the emergency department quickly made a more shocking diagnosis.

Terranova, who leads a healthful lifestyle, was actually in acute heart failure.

When the discovery was made, Terranova was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital for specialty care that involved a cardiac team, as both sides of heart were affected.

In the next days the team used four devices involving surgery to keep her heart beating. It was so dire that, on the first weekend, loved ones were encouraged to visit for goodbyes.

“She could have easily died,” said her cardiac surgeon Dr. Pramod Bonde. “Her heart was not able to pump blood throughout her body.”

Terranova had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart caused by a virus that often requires an eventual transplant.

But by the grace of God and the expert care care of a team led by Dr. Bonde, Terranova is thriving 10 years later at age 56.

“I can work, ride roller coasters at Disney and have no workout limits,” she said. “I’m very lucky and blessed. “I got to see my daughter’s graduation, wedding, countless vacations with my family.”

But it’s not a one and done because Terranova’s resilience in the face of enduring extreme medical intervention inspired Bonde to invent a device that will make it better for the next patient.

“Laura was special. Positive, forward looking,” Bonde said. “My goal is the next Laura doesn’t have to go through the same thing. All the steps, the surgeries.”

Terranova showed such “resilience, grit and determination” in the face of surgeries to move these devices in and out of her body and to repair a heart tear that Bonde was “inspired,” he said. His device, four interventions in one, would work from outside the body and wouldn’t involve surgery.

“It’s truly heartening to hear of Laura’s recovery. She has a level of fortitude that is nothing short of heroic,” Bonde said.

“It is clear that Laura’s journey and the grit she showed is exactly what drives medical innovation,” he said. “Her story is a testament to human survival, but it also highlights a grueling reality: our current ‘gold standard’ of care often requires a gauntlet of invasive procedural trauma to achieve a triumph.”

His streamlined device, now in the advanced development stage and not yet named, would replace the four devices that were used on her: an IABP or intra aortic balloon pump, ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, RVAD or right ventricular assist device and LVAD: left ventricular assist device. One of the devices caused a ventricular rupture, or tear in the heart muscle, that also required surgery. Bonde said surgery always presents a risk.

“We often talk about ‘bridge to recovery,’ but my invention will provide the actual highway—one that doesn’t require stopping to change vehicles every few miles. By moving from multiple invasive surgical interventions to a seamless trans-catheter platform,” Bonde said.

“It empowers interventionalists to manage complex shocks and high-risk cases with a tool that is flexible enough to adapt as the patient’s status changes in real-time,” Bonde said.

“Laura is a hero for surviving the current system,” he said. “Our goal is to ensure the next ‘Laura’ doesn’t have to be a hero; she/he just has to be a patient. By replacing a series of invasive, disparate procedures with one seamless, flexible platform, we move from ‘supporting the failure’ to ‘enabling the recovery.’”

Terranova, a bubbly, positive person whose daughter was a UConn student when the health crisis occurred, said Bonde is her “hero,” because he saved her life.

She even named her LVAD Rudy, short for Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, because it lit her way through the dark, and Bonde said he got a big kick out of that.

Now 56, Terranova, of Milford, recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of her ordeal with staff at Yale New Haven Hospital whom she said went beyond superb medical care and treated her “like a human.”

“That team just really cared about me,” she said.

The symptoms were tricky

Terranova works as a financial planner and analyst for a Milford company. She notes she was “in the best shape of my life,” and working out regularly when she got sick.

She first fell ill on a Saturday, waking up with a sore throat and feeling like was getting a cold or flu, got a cough. She went to work Monday and on Tuesday woke up with, “the worst headache of my life.” She went to the doctor who said it was the flu. Soon she developed shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and dizziness. The doctor again told her it was the flu.

Soon she would ask to go to the emergency room. Fluid had taken over 40 percent of her heart, Terranova said.

“Thank goodness I had Dr. Bonde fighting for me,” she said.

“I was very blessed, lucky, ” she said, to have a great family taking care of me, especially my daughter.”

She said she was hospitalized for 2.5 months and by the grace of God didn’t need a transplant. She also had two open heart surgeries.

Since her ordeal Terranova is involved as a volunteer with the American Heart Association and never misses a chance to tell her story in hopes that even one person can be helped.

She has long been involved with volunteering for the American Red Cross.

Bonde said flu symptoms lasting a week or longer should be checked.

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