Last week I woke up and had a pain in my chest. I’ve had heart troubles before, so I know what it feels like. I went to the hospital and they did blood work and an EKG. The emergency room staff was wonderful, caring and attentive.

The nurse came in and said I needed a cardiologist to look at it.

I’d met Dr. Brad LeMay one time, and I was impressed, so I said, “Would you get him in here?”

He came, and said he could do a chemical stress test which is 95 percent effective or he could go in there and look to be sure.

I told him I’d heard it wasn’t good to do invasive procedures like that in a small hospital like this, and he assured me he felt comfortable doing it. I told him to go ahead.

Ten or 15 minutes later they rolled me back to the lab. When I woke up the ambulance driver was standing over me. We were headed to St. Dominic’s in Jackson.

I was 80 to 90 percent blocked in my right artery; Dr. LeMay found that.

After surgery to put in a stint, I came home Friday at noon, and I feel good now. In my opinion, Dr. LeMay is a blessing sent here. I’m sure the other doctors are good, but we needed another. He has filled an important need.

I’ll be going back to Dr. Brad LeMay soon.

Billy Smith

Natchez resident