Restoring vitality: St. Mary patient gets life back thanks to hiatal hernia surgery
May 16, 2025Categories: Patient Testimonials
Michael Mallon had no idea that, for about 40 years of his life, he had an ever-worsening hiatal hernia. Slowly over time, his stomach slipped up into his chest, resulting in a host of symptoms that made enjoyable activities feel like a burden.
He quickly became fatigued while exercising and had to regularly excuse himself at restaurants due to feeling discomfort after eating just a few bites. Despite being a naturally active and personable man, Mallon found himself dreading invitations.
This continued on and off until 2023, when Mallon, a 65-year-old Newtown resident and father of four daughters, was admitted to St. Mary Medical Center for diverticulitis. While there, he met Alfred Trang, MD, a general and bariatric surgeon at Surgical Associates Langhorne, who informed Mallon that a hiatal hernia, discovered during a CAT scan, was the culprit behind his symptoms.
Dr. Trang let Mallon know about a new, non-invasive surgery offered at St. Mary that would fix the hiatal hernia for good with no recurrence, eliminate all symptoms and, most importantly, give him a sense of vitality that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Mallon was on board and, a little over a year later, feels 10 years younger. He no longer gets fatigued and can enjoy meals without needing to leave the table.
“I got my life back,” says Mallon. “My daughter’s getting married next Saturday and I plan on having a great day. I’m heading toward this day and I’m not worried about a thing. I now look forward to events. I look forward to family functions and dinners, going out with friends, vacations. The pressure’s off and it’s fun going back out again. It truly is.”
According to Dr. Trang, Mallon’s story is a common one. Many patients with a hiatal hernia suffer similar GI and cardiopulmonary symptoms, but are unaware of what’s truly going on with their body. Since hiatal hernias are non-visible, unlike an inguinal hernia, most assume the heartburn, acid reflux, early satiety and fatigue they’re feeling is simply due to aging. They don’t know that a portion of their stomach is in their chest, wreaking havoc on their GI tract, heart and lungs.
“I got my life back. My daughter’s getting married next Saturday and I plan on having a great day. I’m heading toward this day and I’m not worried about a thing. I now look forward to events. I look forward to family functions and dinners, going out with friends, vacations. The pressure’s off and it’s fun going back out again. It truly is.” — Michael Mallon
“They just keep living their lives, but they slowly deteriorate,” says Dr. Trang. “If you get pain or discomfort every time you eat, you’re not going to want to eat. You’re going to stop going out to dinner with friends because it’s not a pleasant experience. You become more reclusive. Some stop gardening and doing their favorite activities because when they bend over, the stomach pushes on the heart and they get lightheaded. They think it’s them getting older or the heat. Over time, their quality of life is just not good.”
In the past, traditional surgical procedures to fix a hiatal hernia didn’t yield great results. Patients would often suffer from even more symptoms, including gas bloat and diarrhea, and experience a recurrence of the hernia within six months to a year.
“But here at St. Mary, we’ve come up with our own technique of facing these things based on improvements in technology and robotic surgery,” says Dr. Trang. “We can do the surgery with such precision that we don’t have any of those side effects and we have zero recurrence rates. Our results have been amazing.”
This surgery brings the stomach back into the abdominal cavity, straightens the esophagus, which can become kinked from the stomach pushing against it, and closes the opening in the diaphragm, preventing the stomach from sliding back up. It can be done on patients of all ages—Dr. Trang’s oldest recipient of the surgery was 102 years old.
“If you get pain or discomfort every time you eat, you’re not going to want to eat. Some stop gardening and doing their favorite activities because when they bend over, the stomach pushes on the heart and they get lightheaded. They think it’s them getting older or the heat. Over time, their quality of life is just not good.” — Dr. Trang
Mallon crossed paths with Dr. Trang at the perfect time, as his stomach was on its way to completely twisting, which would have required major surgical intervention. Instead of having to deal with the aftereffects of an invasive procedure, Mallon only has five miniscule incisions on his abdomen, which family and friends had fun—and difficulty—trying to spot last summer in Cape May.
Over a year post-op, Mallon continues to feel better than ever. He’s excited to take on the world with a renewed energy and appetite, whether it’s at a restaurant in New Orleans or adventuring around Disney World. And Dr. Trang couldn’t be happier for him.
“You work your entire life. You get to 65, 67, you retire. It’s called the golden years because you’re supposed to enjoy yourself. But what if you’re short of breath all the time? You have no energy, you’re afraid to go out and eat with your friends, you can’t socialize. What kind of golden years is that?” says Dr. Trang. “We can now restore patients so that they can enjoy their golden years. They can do all the things that you’re supposed to do. That’s why I’m so passionate about it and why I think it’s such a great operation.”