Surviving Heart Failure: A Successful Heart Transplant Story

Surviving Heart Failure: A Successful Heart Transplant Story

Surviving Heart Failure: A Successful Heart Transplant Story

Jim Briggs had a full life until his heart began to fail. Living with heart failure proved to be the challenge of a lifetime. A lifelong boater, Briggs was used to facing challenges head on, but congestive heart failure made breathing difficult and brought his active lifestyle to a halt.

Despite state-of-the-art interventions and treatments, Briggs’ heart health continued to worsen. That’s when his doctor decided that Briggs was a good candidate for a heart transplant through the UW Medicine Heart Transplant Program. On his mother’s birthday, Briggs received his new heart and a new lease on life.

One year later, he met the mom of his heart donor, who put her ear to Briggs’ chest so she could hear her son’s heart beating once again. Eight years later, Briggs is back on his boat, doing remarkably well. Heart failure is widespread and there is an urgent need for high-quality cardiac care and lifesaving heart transplants like the one Briggs received.

Learn more about Jim Briggs’ journey from heart failure, through a successful heart transplant to a full recovery: https://give.uwmedicine.org/stories/r…
Help support lifesaving cardiac care for everyone in our community: https://give.uwmedicine.org/prioritie…
Learn more about the UW Medicine Heart Transplant Program: https://www.uwmedicine.org/specialtie…


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2.43 -> (seagulls calling)
14.81 -> - They say that blood is seawater, basically, only it
17.58 -> turns red with the hemoglobin.
19.883 -> That's what I got.
22.48 -> I grew up on the water, and I have had a boat in my life
26.26 -> for the last 35-40 years.
30.57 -> It's the navigating experience, it's making your way
32.91 -> around in fog, and it's the challenge of doing it.
37.64 -> There's no breaks on boats.
40.66 -> The first time that I really felt like I was not
44.22 -> up to myself was taking the garbage can out to the street.
48.06 -> I'd have to stop and rest
49.18 -> and then I was having a little trouble breathing
52.05 -> and I thought, well, maybe it's just allergies.
56.084 -> - You've heard of queen of denial, he was often
58.02 -> king of denial.
59.38 -> This is not gonna slow me down, this isn't gonna stop me.
63.21 -> - I went to the doctor and he did some chest x-rays
68.04 -> and he came out and he said, you know,
69.3 -> if I didn't know better, I would say we're looking at
71.87 -> some congestive heart failure here.
75.33 -> The first surgery made me quite nervous because
78 -> I know a little bit about electricity, and I thought,
80.65 -> well you're gonna have to run wires down to my heart
83.35 -> and back up to this thing, and it's got a battery
85.46 -> and I thought it was really intriguing
88.1 -> if someone else was doing it
89.33 -> but I didn't particularly care for one.
92.64 -> Ah, I hate to admit how many times I would have to
94.61 -> go in and get cardioverted, which means
96.48 -> that they actually bring you in, put you down
98.37 -> on a stretcher, and they come in with the paddles
100.58 -> and hit you.
102.6 -> I'd be fine Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
104.52 -> and come Friday, Saturday I'd start slowing down again.
107.48 -> And I knew, well, we're out of sync again.
110.47 -> My energy level was slowly coming down
112.32 -> and my anxiety level was going up
115.02 -> and finally they said that we think that
117.33 -> maybe you're a good candidate for a heart transplant.
121.86 -> The circulation system in my body started to
124.92 -> really not keep up with everything
127.567 -> and my liver was starting to shut down.
130.38 -> Now I'm starting to reflect on, you know,
132.14 -> gee, this is starting not to be fun here,
134.96 -> and so Dr. Fishbein came in, and he's a very stoic man.
143.2 -> I could never get him to smile for some reason.
145.67 -> He was so happy - he said, I think we found you a heart.
150.09 -> He said, you still wanna go through with this?
152.76 -> And I just kinda looked at him,
153.95 -> and I had all these tubes in me and I said, let's do it.
159.14 -> And Thursday night, I went into surgery
163.7 -> and I received a new heart on June 4th,
166.58 -> which was my mother's birthday.
168.817 -> (dramatic music)
175.16 -> We were in the hospital for about three weeks
178.67 -> and when I left there, it was a whole new life.
185.73 -> Almost a year later, we get a call
187.86 -> from the transplant center, and they said the donor family
191.92 -> had thought that they would like to meet you.
194.64 -> I said, okay well yeah we could do that.
197.88 -> And the mother was still emotionally shaking
200.63 -> and she had been crying.
202.96 -> There was one thing that she wanted to do,
204.8 -> and she brought a stethoscope.
208.26 -> - The donor's mother put her ear to Jim's chest
211.86 -> and she heard her son's heartbeat.
215.24 -> The look of joy on her face.
222.94 -> I feel ever more committed that we can beat heart disease.
226.73 -> We can make it go away.
229.16 -> I believe it.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA_A02RTEoU