Jimmy Banks is not one to sit still. A commercial real estate developer, broker and rancher, Jimmy is the kind of man who works tirelessly—managing business by day and tending to his ranch by night. He’s never been someone who misses work. That is, until August 22, 2024.
For a couple of days, Jimmy had been feeling unusually unwell. He assumed he had a kidney stone and even ended a meeting at his home to lie down on the couch. With an ice pack on his chest, struggling to catch his breath and feeling clammy and feverish, he knew something wasn’t right.
“I told my wife we needed to go to the ER right now,” Jimmy recalled.
Just 55 years old and in excellent physical shape—“I had just been climbing mountains and hunting in New Zealand two months before,” he said—Jimmy also knew his family history. His father had his first heart attack at 55. His grandfather had suffered one. His uncle passed away from a heart attack just steps away from a hospital. The signs were too familiar to ignore.
Jimmy’s wife, Andra, rushed him to the ER at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Hillcrest, the very hospital campus he had helped develop with the health system years earlier. Caregivers in the ER immediately ran an EKG on Jimmy. Within minutes, he was rushed to the cardiac catheterization lab. He was having a heart attack.
Coming back to life
The interventional cardiology team moved swiftly. Through a catheter inserted in Jimmy’s wrist and up to his heart, they discovered that Jimmy’s right coronary artery was 100% blocked, and his left was 95% blocked.
Jimmy remained awake, watching everything unfold on the monitors.
“My doctor told me I was going to feel like a new man in 45 seconds,” Jimmy said. “I watched the screen go from being completely black to seeing all these little vessels just filling with blood. It was unreal.”
The relief was immediate. Instructed to come back in a few weeks to have the other side unblocked, Jimmy went home to rest and recover. The next day, Jimmy passed the kidney stone that had first made him feel unwell. He was grateful that it had kept him home and around loved ones who could help him, rather than out and about as he normally would have been.
“I could have been showing property, working on the ranch or driving on the highway,” Jimmy said. “That kidney stone may have saved my life.”
A heart for helping
Jimmy has built many things in his life and career—developments, businesses, churches and more. He’s led mission trips across the globe and invested in his community at home. But something about surviving a near-fatal heart attack shifted his perspective on the value of his time and the legacy he wants to leave.
“I know where my final destination lies, and that’s in heaven,” he reflected. “But when you come that close to death, you really start asking yourself what kind of legacy you’re leaving behind. How can I bless others long after I’m gone?”
For Jimmy, part of that legacy is encouraging others to take charge of their health—physically and spiritually.
“If all I do is make people more aware or get them involved in serving as the hands and feet of Jesus, then I’ve accomplished something meaningful.”
“… you really start asking yourself what kind of legacy you’re leaving behind. How can I bless others long after I’m gone? I choose to spend my time on what matters most—on what will help others the most.”
Jimmy Banks
On a mission to save lives
Since his recovery, Jimmy has made proactive heart health his personal mission. He has encouraged dozens of friends to get calcium CT scans, tests that have helped several uncover cardiac risks they didn’t know they had.
His gratitude for the care he received led him to join the Baylor Scott & White – Hillcrest Development Advisory Board, where he now supports fundraising efforts, including the Hillcrest Hearts in Bloom event benefiting the Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Heart Center. Not only was Baylor Scott & White there for him on the day of his heart attack, but the health system has also cared for members of his family through cancer treatment and respiratory challenges. Jimmy felt compelled to give back in any way he could.
He’s especially passionate about elevating awareness of the exceptional cardiovascular expertise available in Central Texas—including the interventional cardiology team at the Hillcrest Heart Center.
“When you have people with that level of talent and experience, you want to support them and keep them here,” Jimmy said.
‘It’s how the mission grows’
Jimmy also wants others to understand that Baylor Scott & White is a not-for-profit health system. Revenue isn’t distributed to shareholders; it is reinvested into patient care, research, programs and clinics that strengthen the health of the community.
“Philanthropic support isn’t just charity,” Jimmy said. “It’s how the mission grows.”
There are many ways to get involved—through giving, volunteering, advocacy or simply sharing the impact the health system makes every day.
“You feel like you’re part of the Baylor Scott & White team, and you want it to be all that it can be,” Jimmy said.
“We all prioritize things in life,” he added. “I choose to spend my time on what matters most—on what will help others the most.”
