After Harry Parsley started taking blood thinners to manage his atrial fibrillation (AFib), he unfortunately experienced one of the medication’s worst side effects: a brain bleed, or minor stroke.

Within within two weeks I could feel the difference. It’s an incredible feeling.

“The biggest concern I had at any moment was that I could have had a stroke,” he says. “I was under continuous threat every single day, and I felt like it would be that way forever.”

Harry and his wife, Ellen, met with a cardiologist at Sutter to learn about the Watchman™ implant, a tiny plug that’s placed inside the heart’s left atrial appendage to prevent stroke-causing blood clots from traveling to the brain.

“[The surgeon at Sutter] instilled very high confidence in both of us … and before we left [the appointment], we had made the decision” to get the implant.

Following the one-hour, minimally invasive procedure and a single night in the hospital, Harry soon experienced the Watchman’s benefits.

“They took me off the blood thinners, and within a couple of weeks I could feel the difference,” he says. “It’s an incredible feeling. I can live my life fully now with the people I love to live it with. This has been the most important and probably best decision I could have ever made.”