He thought he had a sinus infection. An urgent care found something wrong with his heart.

Marc Gaudisosi was tired of feeling sick. For a while, he had attributed his fatigue and shortness of breath to being a touring musician. Then, a headache led him to believe he had a sinus infection. But no matter what he tried, “it wouldn’t go away.” 

In January 2025, Gaudisosi decided to step into a CVS Minute Clinic urgent care to see if a doctor could help with his symptoms. During his admission, a nurse noticed a heart murmur. 

“She said, ‘How long have you had a heart murmur?’ And I’m thinking, ‘Boy, I never had a heart murmur before,'” Gaudisosi told CBS News.

The Minute Clinic staff urged Gaudisosi to see a doctor as soon as possible. The next week, he saw his primary care physician, who confirmed the murmur and sent him to a cardiologist. Weeks of tests and ultrasounds followed. In mid-February, Gaudisosi was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation, where blood leaks back into the heart and causes stress on the organ. 

Gaudisosi was scared and surprised by the diagnosis — but he already knew plenty about the condition. His mother, Jean Gaudisosi, had been diagnosed with it in 1998 and needed emergency surgery to treat it. The condition does not typically run in families. 

Jean Gaudisosi said she thought she was more scared by her son’s diagnosis than he was. 

“It was so emotional and frightening to learn that my son was facing the same diagnosis that I went through 28 years ago,” she said. 

What is mitral valve regurgitation? 

The mitral valve is found between the heart’s left atrium and left ventricle. Blood enters the left atrium, and the mitral valve pumps it to the left ventricle, where it exits through the aortic valve to circulate through the body. The function of the mitral valve is essential to make the heart work correctly, said Dr. Jordan Bloom, a cardiac surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Mitral valve regurgitation occurs when the valve doesn’t close correctly, or prolapses, causing blood to return to the left atrium. That can result in too much blood in the left atrium, which can eventually cause heart arrhythmias and other complications. Eventually, a person can suffer heart failure symptoms including congestion, shortness of breath and swelling in the legs. 

In most cases, mitral valve regurgitation is not inherited, Bloom said, though he suggested there could be a “genetic explanation” for why both Gaudisosis had the condition. For most, mitral valve regurgitation is caused by heart disease or other damage to the organ.

A surgical coincidence  

In addition to the diagnosis, Marc Gaudisosi’s cardiologist gave him a referral for Dr. Sabet Hashim, who has been performing mitral valve repairs and replacements at the Heart and Vascular Institute at Hartford Hospital for decades. One of those past surgeries had been a mitral valve repair on Jean Gaudisosi. Hashim said he was “elated” to realize he would be treating his former patient’s son.

“It’s rare to operate on a mother and son,” Hashim said. “Especially the same surgery.” 

The Gaudisosis were also thrilled by the connection. 

“When Marc said Dr. Hashim was his surgeon, I was totally relieved,” Jean Gaudisosi, 77, said. “I knew he was in good hands.” 

“It was like a weight off my shoulders,” Marc Gaudisosi added. 

Still, Marc Gaudisosi was anxious about the prospect of an open-heart surgery. He worried recovery would be difficult and that he might never be able to tour again. 

A mitral valve repair is more complicated than a mitral valve replacement, Bloom said. But, if someone has a mitral valve replacement, the use of a prosthetic heart valve “will likely shorten the patient’s life expectancy,” Bloom said, while the repair operation is associated with normal life expectancy.

Ignoring the problem was never an option. Marc Gaudisosi underwent a mitral valve repair on July 22, 2025. Recovery was “surprisingly” smooth, he said. 

“It really didn’t hurt much. The scariest part was, at home, you’re taking off the bandages, you don’t know what’s going to be underneath,” he said. “But even that wasn’t that terrible. It was much better than I thought it was going to be.” 

“A sense of relief”  

Now, about a year after his operation, Marc Gaudisosi, 57, is fully recovered and back to daily life. He was able to get back to his band and celebrate a worldwide album release.

Since the surgery, he’s realized just how much the symptoms of mitral valve regurgitation were affecting him. 

“I noticed the difference right away. Once they start telling you all the symptoms, you kind of realize, ‘Well, I do have that,'” he said. “I just chalked it up to getting older. After the surgery, everything went away. I didn’t realize how bad it was until then.” 

Marc Gaudisosi will continue to undergo regular checkups with his cardiologist, but shouldn’t have any more problems related to his mitral valve. He said he is looking forward to doing more with his band, including working on another album and continuing to play live shows. 

“There’s just such a sense of relief for everybody,” he said.