Central Ohio woman shares journey of staying active after open heart surgery
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — About a year after major open heart surgery, a central Ohio woman and her medical team are hoping her experience could inspire others.
Despite being born with a heart murmur, Allison Grotelueschen has always kept up an active lifestyle and exercised often.
“Movement is medicine, but it always has been. It just makes me feel better mentally. Not only physically, obviously it helps there. But mentally and psychologically, it's my happy place," she said.
For most of her life, the murmur was not a big problem. But in 2021, it got louder. Grotelueschen was told she'd need major surgery in about two years. She did not slow down.
"I just continued to ride and was able to continue riding right up until the day before my surgery," she said.
Due to her physical fitness, she was able to have the operation a year later than originally expected. In July 2024, her aortic valve was replaced during open heart surgery at OhioHealth's Riverside Methodist Hospital.
“There were a couple weeks there where I was like, 'Oh wow, am I going to be able to get back there?'. But in the back of my mind I just knew I had to give myself grace," Grotelueschen said.
Grotelueschen received a Peloton as a present from her husband in 2020. It's been a major part of her fitness journey ever since.
She said she started slowly riding again about six weeks after the operation. Then what she described as her "first hard ride" came on the first day of 2025. Then, she got the chance to experience some in-person rides at Peloton in New York.
“They surprised me with ride 1600. I got to ride with Ally Love, who is one of my favorite instructors. And then I got to ride the next day with another instructor that I really enjoy as well," Grotelueschen said.
It was made possible because Grotelueschen's husband had reached out to Peloton about Allison's story. Then, one of the instructors got in touch. Dr. Akira Wada, Grotelueschen's cardiologist and an avid Peloton rider himself, hopes Allison's story can help encourage others.
“I’m a firm believer that kind of what you put in is what you get out. And so all the hard work she did I think really kind of helped her get through this process," Wada said. "She has been a wonderful patient both before and after surgery. But she really didn't break stride throughout this whole process. So she was highly active up until the point she had her surgery, which I think really helped her accelerate the recovery process after major surgery."
Grotelueschen said her family and faith also played big roles in helping her get to where she is today.
“Just one foot in front of the other," she said. "And lean on those that can lift you up and help you get through."