LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Several times a week, 94-year-old Fay Porter makes the long walk down her condominium complex to get to the pool.
She's loved the water all her life. It's and escape, of sorts, she says.
"You don't have anything to concentrate on, to look at, to see if something needs to be dusted or vacuumed or cooked or whatever," she told us. "It's just floating."
Yet "floating" is not how Fay's moved through life — she taught music and math for nearly 30 years in Northeast Ohio school districts, and she's a dedicated mother.
"I have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren," she said.
And if you ever look closely at the pictures that cover her condo walls, you may recognize her from her decades-long modeling and acting career. She's appeared in movies with stars like Corbin Bernsen, and even earned a best supporting actress nod from the Hoboken International Film Festival for her work in "Strange Girls."
"I didn't win, but I was nominated," Fay gushed, "so I feel good about that."
She's also appeared on dozens of cards for American Greetings. Yet, of all her accomplishments, nothing compared to what she overcame five years ago.
"I was told by a cardiologist elsewhere that they didn't know what they could do for me," she recalled. "It was almost like getting a death sentence."
Porter needed a tricuspid heart valve repair, as well as a defect. She had been short of breath, unable to walk down that hallway to her oasis.
At 89, she needed an advocate and someone who believed in her. She found just that in Dr. Alan Markowitz, chief surgical officer for University Hospitals Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute.
"We just could not find reasons to not fix this for her," Markowitz said, "because she — despite her macular degeneration — had a very active life."
Fay said it was just what she needed.
"He said, 'When do you want this? And I jokingly said, 'As soon as I can,'" she noted. "And he replied in his joking manner again, 'How about this afternoon?'"
"She's extraordinary and, you know, I've operated on a fair number of people over the last 40 years, but there are some that really stick out, and Fay was one of them," Markowitz added. "She exemplifies the fact that you can't be defined by one number."
For Fay, it's about feeling heard. After all, she has so much more life to give.
"When I called him, I thanked him," she said. "I said, 'You've given me five more years of a great life.'"
The surgery was a success: Fay's been swimming ever since. In fact, she does 10 laps of backstroke every time she's in the pool.
Fay says it's about embracing what you have, and forgetting about what you don't
"Well, I could be totally blind. I'm not, so I'm grateful for that. If I only have peripheral vision, OK, but at least I'm not totally blind," Fay said. "You know, you're either going to sit home and cry and feel sorry for yourself, or you're going to say, 'I can do this. Get up and move. Do it.'"
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