After a complicated surgery, I received my new heart, my second chance at life in January 2018. Once I recovered, I knew that I wanted to give back in some way to the transplant community that has helped me so much. I began volunteering with Donor Network West, my local Organ Procurement Organization and found a niche that I could fill there in educating the public about the benefits of organ donation, but it wasn’t until September of 2019 that I found a way to help that was desperately needed, unfilled by anyone else, and could save lives and certainly could improve recovery after a transplant. I learned of a patient whose transplant was being delayed due to his inability to fully pay for his post-transplant recovery housing that his doctors would require. I knew that something as solvable as money shouldn’t delay someone’s second chance at life, especially since I knew that many people die while waiting for a matching organ. I enlisted some friends and hosted a fundraiser in my home’s backyard and raised $12,000 to help him. And that is how Heartfelt Help Foundation was formed. We can help people financially qualify to receive the gift of life and we help them into housing that facilitates reliable and timely recovery when they lack resources to pay for it themselves. I am so grateful for my own second chance and feel obligated to make it count in a way that gives back to the community that no one asks to be a member of, but for which all are grateful.
