Episcopal Bishop Battles Heart Disease ... And Wins

In January of last year, after a particularly acute flareup of a heart condition, retired Episcopal Bishop William Beckham received some bad news from doctors in his native state of South Carolina - he had congestive heart failure.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to the 75-year-old man who had presided over northern South Carolina as a bishop for 16 years. With a history of heart trouble that had been treated with medication since he was 58, he could barely walk across a room.

"They said there was nothing they could do," Bishop Beckham recalls his South Carolina medical team informing him. "But I told them I wasn't interested in dying right then. I told them that if there was anything that could be done or tried, I wanted to do it."

His son saw something about the latest treatments for congestive heart failure on the Internet. When the Bishop talked about his situation with long-time friend Alan Blanchard, president of the Episcopal Church Pension Fund, Blanchard contacted Bishop Claude Payne and Canon Rayford High in Houston, home of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, one of the world's leading hospitals in the treatment of heart conditions.

It wasn't long before Canon High was making arrangements for Bishop Beckham to come to Houston. He was rolled onto the plane in a wheelchair.

Cathy Eastwood, program coordinator for St. Luke's Heart Failure Center, met with Beckham. Tests were done. Doctors decided he should have a pacemaker implanted along with a defibrillator - the same technology that saved former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier's life.

"I feel better now than I have in five years," says Bishop Beckham, who was at St. Luke's recently for a checkup. "Now I come here on a plane by myself. No more wheelchair. I walk around easily. I have so much more energy. I even went to New York recently."

Every time he comes to Houston he wants to thank Canon High, Eastwood, research nurse Debra Dees and Edward Massin, M.D. and Michael Mihalick, M.D.

"St. Luke's saved my life," the bishop says. "It's that simple. I just want to say thank you."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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