Follower of Christ, husband (24 years), father of three, heart transplant recipient - in that order.
In 10/2005 I was able to hike to the top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park. Four months later, in 2/2006, I was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy – congestive heart failure.
Over the spring and summer, my condition got steadily worse and by July I had to sit and rest regularly. By September I could barely walk and the fluid around my heart and lungs made every breath and exertion painful if possible at all. In October I was back in the hospital again with crushing chest pains. 11/19/06 I was back in the hospital again, and on 12/01/06 was transferred to Stanford Hospital for a heart transplant. The surgeon’s report would later state that when I went in for my first open heart surgery on 12/20/06, I was in “end system failure”. Implanting a Left Ventricle Assist Device saved my life. The LVAD, we knew was a temporary fix and they released me from the hospital 02/14/07 to wait for a donor heart. At 3:15am on the 02/16/07 we got that call and on February 17, 2007, I received my new heart.
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