OHIO — Dan Luciano prides himself on being an active guy.
“Something outside of work that burns up some stress and not only that, but keeps you in shape and fit,” he said.
The 62-year-old enjoys cycling.
“When the weather’s warm I try to ride four times a week, generally 25-35 mile rides each time,” he said.
As a person with healthy habits, Luciano was aghast to learn he had a heart condition in 2021.
“I never had any symptoms,” Luciano said.
Luciano was a police officer with the Independence Police Department for more than 30 years and retired in 2021.
He’s also a pilot and every two years, he needs a flight physical. During that 2021 checkup, an FAA doctor detected a heart murmur.
“In my early 60s I was very proud of the shape that I was in, so it came as a complete shock,” said Luciano.
An echocardiogram confirmed Luciano has mitral valve regurgitation. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the disease is also known as a “leaky valve.” This happens when a heart valve doesn’t close properly, which causes blood to leak backward into the heart. And in Luciano’s case, his heart enlarged to compensate.
His doctors reassured him that his fitness level would help in his recovery and he’d be better than ever after treatment.
“I had been doing it with a bad heart, with a bad engine as he refers to it,” he said, “that he was going to fix it, they were going to fix it and I would come out feeling even better than I did at the time.”
He ended up having open heart surgery to repair the valve on Valentine’s Day 2022.
“They actually have to stop your heart for a period of time and a machine takes over for your lungs and your heart,” he said.
Today, Luciano said he feels back to normal. Just a few months after his surgery, he was back on his bike full speed ahead.
And he has a lot to live for. He’s a father to eight children, ages 17 to 33.
“We had five of our own and then adopted, a little girl from China and then a boy and a girl from Guatemala,” he said. “At one time we had eight kids in the house, five dogs, couple of cats, maybe a chinchilla. Two chinchillas.”
In 2012, Luciano’s wife, Lisa, died from a rare cancer. During his own health scare, he worried about his kids.
“For my adopted kids, this was the second mother that they had lost,” he said. “They’re older now, but I still didn’t want them to have to go through that for another parent.”
His longtime girlfriend, Karyn, has been a big support, and he looks forward to more time with the ones he loves.
“I’m grateful every day,” he said.
Luciano has cycled in several countries around the world and months after his surgery, he biked 100 miles in Cleveland Clinic’s VeloSano Bike to Cure event for cancer research.
His message to others is the importance of routine doctor visits. No matter how you feel or how well you eat or how much you excersize, it’s critical to see your doctor at least once a year and get checked out because things like this can happen to anyone.
