Cooking Up A Comeback

By Ashley Boles

Self-proclaimed “cardiojunkie” Scott Rudolph is always on the go. The 58-year-old husband and father of three grown children owns the local restaurant chain Bar-B-Que House. He took over the business in Oak Island, North Carolina, in 2007 and opened two additional locations, one in North Myrtle Beach in 2009 and one in Surfside Beach in 2010.

When he’s not at one of the restaurants, he’s biking, riding his scooter, or playing basketball, tennis or golf.

Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Scott learned his entrepreneurial skills from selling lemonade on the Ocean City boardwalk. College brought him to North Carolina, and he called the Greensboro area home for 27 years.

In 2022, Scott and his wife Debbie moved to North Myrtle Beach to live the “semi-retired dream.”

“There is good and bad in everything in life. But I surround myself with good people, and that makes all the difference,” said Scott. While Scott is typically healthy, he fell ill after returning from a European river cruise in late December 2024. After two rounds of antibiotics, he still wasn’t feeling like himself. Ultimately, he started experiencing chest pain.

“Imagine if you were to lay on the ground and someone put a 15- or 20-pound weight on your chest, and when you stand up, the weight is still there,” said Scott.

The pain continued for months and became so intense in early April that his friend, a practicing physician, advised Scott to get to the ER as soon as possible.

“I had lunch plans that afternoon and thought it would be a quick in-and-out visit in the morning,” said Scott. “Debbie also had an upcoming hip replacement scheduled with Dr. Christopher Walsh, and I wanted to be ready to support her recovery.”

After arriving at the McLeod Seacoast Emergency Department, Scott was quickly triaged and soon met McLeod Health Cardiologist Dr. Bruce Kowalski, who was initially puzzled by Scott’s EKG and blood test results.

“Typically, when a patient comes in with chest pain, we will order an EKG to see if we can diagnose any heart conditions.

“Scott’s EKG was normal, but his blood work showed an elevated troponin level, which is a protein found in the heart muscle,” said Dr. Kowalski.

An elevated troponin level is concerning because it indicates damage to the heart muscle, with the most common cause being a heart attack.

Dr. Kowalski said the elevated troponin level alone wasn’t enough to send Scott to the Cardiac Catheterization (Cath) Lab, but observing Scott gave him pause.

“When practicing medicine for a long time, you know when people are in pain. Scott was receiving morphine through an IV and still felt uncomfortable, so I talked with our Interventional Cardiologist and my partner,

Dr. Joseph Marmora, and we took Scott to the Cath Lab to get a better visualization of any potential blockages. There, we could intervene with a stent if needed,” said Dr. Kowalski.

That decision ultimately saved Scott’s life.

“We found a 100% blockage of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery,” said Dr. Kowalski. 

Debbie learned this news from Dr. Kowalski in the same-day surgery waiting area with her and Scott’s eldest son, Noah.

“After they took him back to the Cath Lab, we were told we would hear something in less than 40 minutes. Right at the 40-minute mark, Dr. Kowalski came out and told us about the total blockage, and Noah became very emotional. I’ll never forget Dr. Kowalski looking at him and saying, ‘Son, your dad is going to be okay,’” recalled Debbie.

Scott went home the next day. His first stop after leaving McLeod Health Seacoast was his North Myrtle Beach restaurant to show his staff members he was on the mend. He now has a stent and takes a daily aspirin along with a beta blocker.

“I’m only here by the grace of God and the incredible doctors and nurses at McLeod Health Seacoast. I have my life back, and I couldn’t be more thankful,” added Scott.