By Suzy Alstrin
A year after being rushed from school in an ambulance, a middle school teacher and Reinhardt alumna is celebrating her life-changing medical recovery from what Northwestern Medicine describes as a rare surgery. “Having open heart surgery at a young age, before even reaching age 30, was definitely something I hadn’t planned for in my life,” reflected Aleah Irvin (RU-2019).
At age 17, Irvin was diagnosed with lupus and suffered from pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane around the heart. For years, including during college, she endured extreme chest pain and found little relief from medication.
In the spring of 2024, during her fifth year of teaching at Autrey Mill Middle School in Johns Creek, Georgia, a severe flare-up sent her to the hospital. “That morning, I was really struggling, but I wanted to push through and go to work. Being a teacher is the type of job where you feel this sense of responsibility to be there. There were so many other times where I would go to school, but it was hard because I felt like I was being stabbed in the chest and neck.”
Irvin returned to work a few days later, but the incident served as a wake-up call to seek a long-term solution. She did extensive research, asked countless questions — even reaching out to strangers — and learned about a procedure called pericardiectomy. Finding a surgeon willing to perform it proved difficult, but a Facebook support group led her to Dr. Douglas Johnston at Northwestern University Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in Chicago.
In June 2024, Dr. Johnston successfully removed her heart’s membrane. By October, Irvin was back in her classroom. “I have not had another flare-up. Ultimately, it was a blessing, having the surgery.”
Happy to be closing out the school year, Irvin offers a message for others: “Be your own advocate. Keep pushing, researching, and standing up for yourself to get the help you truly need. Don’t give up, even if you’re in pain and feel defeated.”
To her colleagues, she adds, “Use your struggles to your advantage. Whenever you have tough situations in your life, it’s going to make you a more empathetic person. That’s what teaching is all about — understanding the challenges others are going through, just in different ways.”
“To do an operation on someone who is going to go out and flourish in their career because of that surgery is incredibly gratifying,” said Dr. Johnston. “The idea of doing something for someone, who is going to touch so many other lives, amplifies what we can do at Northwestern Medicine.”
