August 2, 2014 – Our journey began! While on reserve duty at Ft Knox, KY I had an unstoppable coughing event, so I went to Ireland Army Hospital where I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I went through several procedures to try and avoid a transplant, but none were effective enough.
June 19, 2015- The decision was made to try to keep me healthy enough to get a heart transplant. I entered the hospital on September 4, 2015 (Friday before Labor Day). We were told to get used to spending holidays in the hospital. At 8:45 pm on September 15, 2015 Dr. Andrew Lenneman came into my room and asked if I was still interested in a heart, because one had become available. The recovery team went to check out the donor heart and returned with it. Surgery was scheduled at 6:00 am on September 16, 2015.
On this journey the right doctors were placed to make the right decisions! The nurses who cared for me/us are at the top of their profession. They are the best! The brief time on the transplant waiting list. The perfect heart and 30 months of zero rejection. All medical miracles. Angels walking among us. People stepping up at just the right time to do something for us that we can never repay. Mason Brothers who not only helped us financially but who tirelessly mowed our three acres week in and out during the spring and summer. Removed snow during the winter. We are forever grateful and indebted to those Brothers! In addition, to the Scottish Rite Masons for the major financial support for without it we would have surely lost our home. We are so very humbled and forever grateful.
To quote John Bunyon “You haven’t really lived until you’ve done something for somebody who can never repay you”.
Thank you and God Bless!
Jeff McMahan