NORWICH – A Norwich native is among one of the rarest examples of medical marvel of the twentieth century, and for more than a quarter century – he has defied the odds and continued living despite the ill fortune of a compromised heart condition.

It was late January 1989 when Tom Cook, Norwich High School graduate – class of '81, was rushed to a Washington area hospital for chest pain, resulting devastating diagnosis.

Cook was told that he would need a heart valve replacement in order to survive only after undergoing a emergency repair procedure of his aorta, the main artery of the human body that supplies all of the systemic circulation – which means that the entire body, except for the lungs receives its blood from the aorta.

Nearly a week after his surgery at the Washington Medical Canter – while awaiting discharge – Cook began to notice that something felt wrong. While watching the heart monitors at his bedside, he began to wonder if all was well in his chest.

After his mother, Norwich resident Anna Kennedy urged her son to notify the medical staff of his worries, it was discovered that he had been having a series of heart attacks – and that his heart had all but been destroyed. Almost simultaneously, and amidst a hail of activity, Kennedy and her husband Tom found themselves waiting in the Hallway once again as doctors, nurses and specialists worked to diagnose and manage Cook's care.