Marie Ann Labrie

Marie Ann Labrie still remembers the day when she received a frightening wake-up call regarding her health. Upon returning home after a trip to the gym, Labrie’s dangerously irregular heartbeat caused her to suddenly lose consciousness and collapse onto the kitchen floor. The fall left her badly bruised.

Thankfully, her husband was home at the time of the incident. Labrie was already under the care of William Gregory Stevenson, MD, director of the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) for her atrial fibrillation. Dr. Stevenson “dropped everything” to be there for her, Labrie says. “He said the time had come for a pacemaker.”

Stevenson convinced her there was no time to delay and scheduled the procedure the next day. “He did me the biggest favor of my life,” she acknowledges.

To show her gratitude, Labrie updated her will to include a bequest to BWH, gifting half of her estate to the Watkins Cardiovascular Clinic at BWH. The gift was made in honor of Stevenson and Michael Owen Sweeney, MD, who installed her pacemaker.

Labrie had thought of making a change to her will for some time and realized how simple it was after contacting her lawyer. “It was extremely easy. It took no more than 10 minutes,” she explains. “I would recommend it to anyone who has a love for the Brigham as I do.”

By virtue of this gift, Labrie was welcomed into The Legacy Society – a group that honors and celebrates those who include Brigham and Women’s Hospital or Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in their estate plans.

Today, Labrie works out at a health club three to four days a week, confident that her pacemaker will regulate her heartbeat. 

“Brigham and Women’s Hospital is everything to me,” she says. “I want to help others who need good care.”

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