d get to see my daughter grow up."

I had been sick and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy about 19 years ago. As time went by and my condition got worse, the cardiologist I was seeing told me things had reached a point where there really wasn't anything he could do for me anymore. That was when he said the best thing I could do would be to go down to Lutheran and see some of the transplant people there so they could do an evaluation to see if I'd be a candidate for a transplant.

For about three years, I was in a major state of denial. It took me about that long to even go to Lutheran to talk to them and see if it was as bad as what I thought it was. It was something I didn't want to admit. I kept telling myself that I'm not that old. It's just hard to admit that you're sick.

I experienced a lot of anxiety about finding out just how bad it was, and that caused a lot of problems. I struggled to accept the real possibility that I was going to need a transplant.

Meeting the Lutheran Heart Center Team
From the very first time I met with the transplant team at Lutheran until today, everyone there — the doctors, the nurses, the transplant coordinators — it's kind of like they're welcoming you into their family. Even the post-transplant people, everyone involved in my care, there's such a great sense of camaraderie and caring.

Well, it didn't take long during my first visit to realize how serious my condition was. They told me that things were not going to improve, and I went through some major testing, pokes and prods and all that great stuff. I asked the doctor point blank, "How bad is it?" And he told me, "If we don't get you a heart, you've got maybe two years."

That led to a lot of discussion with my wife and a lot of discussion with my preacher. Through it all, our trust in the Lord helped put us at ease. It was one of those things where I felt comfortable with the people that were doing the procedure and felt comfortable with myself that it was time to get healthy.

Plugging In to Buy Some Time
Probably the moment that I really felt like this was going to work was shortly after I'd been down to Lutheran for an exam. They called me one morning and said, "You need to talk to the surgeon because he wants to put in an LVAD," which is a Left Ventricular Assistance Device. When I arrived, the surgeon was already there waiting for me. He said, "This is your chance. You need this device as a bridge to get you to transplant because without it, your own heart is not going to take you as far as you need to go."

On the way home my wife and I talked. It's about an hour drive for us, and we just decided that we were going to put it in God's hands and, if it was his will, it would work out.

The transplant
I was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 8, 2009, and would be there until they found me a heart. Because of various factors, I was moving up the transplant list pretty quickly at that point, and just six days later, I received my heart. Compared to most people on the list, I was very lucky in the sense that I was only there six days.

Something that I really liked about the nurses was that they didn't treat me like a number. I mean, they get to know you. They really care about you, and they're there to take care of you.

My daughter wrote a book while we were going through this experience. It was her way of getting her feelings out to deal with the situation. The counselor at her school helped her, and we ended up getting a few of these books published. She wanted Lutheran Hospital and the surgeon's office to have some to help other fathers and mothers explain what was happening to their children. We found out through research that, really, there weren't any books for little children on this subject. Most of the transplant stuff that you read comes from adults telling their story. Her thinking was if she could help one little boy or girl, it was worth her time.

What it all means to me today
There's a list of hundreds of people at the hospital I want to thank, from surgeons to nurses to the folks in cardiac rehab and physical therapy. There's no way that I could thank them enough. I can say thanks, but there's no way of putting into words what they did for me and my family.

I would tell anybody who has thought about it, and I've talked to some of the people that are on the list right now, if they're telling you that you're that sick, you're that sick. I wish a thousand times over that I hadn't have put my transplant off for as long as I did.

It's not just that my health is so much better than it was, but just being able to breathe normally is so amazing. It's being able to walk 50 feet without being out of breath or being able to climb a flight of stairs. My choice has helped me extend the life that I have now. I would tell anyone to do it. There's no reason not to do it.

If I could describe Lutheran Heart Center in one word I would use the word "caring."