Welcome to Raymond James Birmingham’s Team Page! Raymond James Birmingham is a proud sponsor of the American Heart Associations Heart walk, which will be held at Railroad Park on March 9th. We walk because with every step, we are saving lives. We’re all tied to heart disease and stroke in some way. We have to change that. Will you help us? Your donation will fund groundbreaking research that literally keeps hearts beating and helps people have longer, healthier lives. Have a heart and help us reach our goal today! 

Michael Turnbough, our office manager, and Alabama Complex Manager is a survivor of heart disease. Michael was 45 years old, living a healthy lifestyle, working out 3 to 4 times a week. One day, he was helping a colleague carry something heavy when he felt a weird sharp pain, and shortness of breath in his chest. Afterwards, he wasn’t feeling great about it and decided to call his doctor. His doctor told him to take two ibuprofen, and go straight to the hospital as that is a sign of heart failure. 

At the emergency room, they told him his LAD was 99.9% blocked, and if he had waited another day or two, he would not be alive. The doctors told Michael they were going to try and put stents in his heart, and if that didn’t work they would have to do open heart surgery. Thankfully, the stents worked. A few months later he experienced the same chest pain & shortness of breath. He went to the emergency room again, and they told him they had to put more stents in his heart. They had to use a balloon angioplasty to restore blood flow through a blocked artery, which they had to pump 14 times to widen it enough to place stents in his heart. Since then, Michael has continued to live a healthy lifestyle by walking each morning, and monitoring a healthy diet. He is very lucky to have survived heart disease, and continues to monitor his blood pressure at home, be aware of how his body is feeling, and visit his doctors regularly. 

Michael hopes through his story to spread awareness as well as the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle with exercise and a healthy diet. 

Heart disease and stroke are the top two killers worldwide, and they don’t just affect older people. We need your help raising the critical funds to support the mission of the American Heart Association: to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.