John Travolta auditioned for the role of Edward, which eventually went to Richard Gere, and the movie went on to be international success. In 1979, Travolta turned down the lead to star in American Gigolo, which then went to Richard Gere, and also became a hit.
While the overall statistics are not encouraging, long-term survival and quality of life after diagnosis vary greatly with the individual circumstances. The statistics show that only 20 to 30 percent of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients live longer than 10 to 12 years after diagnosis.
After 8â12 weeks, individuals enter the chronic phase of disease and in 60â70% it never produces further symptoms. The other 30 to 40% of people develop further symptoms 10 to 30 years after the initial infection, including enlargement of the ventricles of the heart in 20 to 30%, leading to heart failure. An enlarged esophagus or an enlarged colon may also occur in 10% of people.