Veteran James Schell receives heart transplant

He had already gone through basic training and trained in the electronics he would need in his job. He just needed to pass his last class to get assigned to a sub.

During a mandatory physical therapy session, he nearly passed out during a run. At the base hospital, he learned his heart was two and a half times the normal size. He was sent to the naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, where doctors continued to run more tests. They speculated that a virus had affected his heart muscle. “When they were talking about it, I thought I could still get a desk job in the Navy,” he said.

James was dismayed to learn that his heart condition precluded him from serving at all. He was told he needed to retire. “There are a lot of people who want to get out of the service, and they have to stay in,” he said. “I wanted to stay in, but I was forced out.”

After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1992, James started receiving heart care from a Veterans’ Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, close to where he lives. When University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, started offering heart transplants for Veterans in conjunction with the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, James went there for treatment.

James received the gift of life with a new heart on March 21, 1994. He was the fifth veteran to receive a heart transplant at the Veterans Administration (VA) and the UW Health Transplant Center.

“The thing that stuck out most to me after my transplant,” he said, “is that I would lie in bed and my body would just rock, because I wasn’t used to having that strong of a heartbeat.”

Now, as James celebrates the 30th anniversary of his heart transplant (alongside the VA, which is also commemorating 30 years of heart transplants), he continues to be grateful that he received a second chance at life.

“I’ve had my donor heart longer than I had my natural heart,” he said. “Because of organ transplantation, I got married, had two kids, and was able to live a good life.”

“Even through ups and downs in life, I know I’m very grateful and fortunate,” he added. “I think organ donation is a wonderful gift.”