As the years passed, Chris’s heart disease became debilitating and he stopped drinking, but the damage had been done. He became sicker until July 2023, when he constantly needed to have fluid drained, had almost no energy and was admitted to a local intensive care unit. The hospital where he was being treated almost sent him home “to die,” he said.
Instead, Chris’s daughter called the UW Health Transplant Center to find out if there was anything caregivers there could do for her father. While Chris was not immediately a candidate for heart transplant, doctors determined he would be a good candidate for a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).
An LVAD is a pump used for patients who are in end-stage heart failure. Doctors surgically implant the battery-operated, mechanical pump so it can help the left ventricle pump blood to the rest of the body. It is often used as a bridge to transplant, as it helps stabilize patients until they can receive a heart transplant.
That certainly was true for Chris. “The people at UW Health had to make sure I was ready to go,” he said. “My left ventricle was functioning at 10%. The LVAD took over my heart function. If I wouldn’t have qualified for it, I would have died.”
Chris received his LVAD on Aug. 14, 2023. “My life pretty much went back to normal after I got it,” he said. “I was able to do all my household duties and help take care of my grandkids. I even walked my dog. The only difference was that I had to walk around with a battery pack and controller.”
The LVAD served him well for nearly a year before he was ready to be placed on the wait list for a new heart in July 2024. He received his gift of life with a heart transplant just three weeks after being put on the list on the one-year anniversary of his LVAD.
Now, as he recovers from the surgery, he’s excited about what life with a new heart might look like. He’s especially eager to try swimming at the YMCA—working out at the facility has become his hobby over the last few months.
“I have a strong beating heart now,” he said. “It’s not just a little pump. It feels so good to be moving forward.”