Every time Donald Putzia drew in a haggard breath, the left side of his chest wall sagged under the weight of the action, causing him excruciating pain.

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The 62-year-old couldn’t talk for longer than a sentence. And even then, he’d cough, sending him through another painful fight to breathe. Putzia could not breathe right for more than a year after a cardiac pulmonary bypass surgery.

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Though that surgery saved his life, it destroyed the mechanics of his chest wall because when sternum did not heal correctly. “I was in so much pain. I couldn’t do (cardiac rehabilitation after surgery),” Putzia said. “Most of the time I had to walk with a […]

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