It's been eight months since Marcus Bozeman received his new heart.
After years of struggling with a failing heart, now it's hard to keep up with him.
Marcus is doing everything he can to make sure he takes care of his new heart because
he treasures his gift of a transplant that saved his life.
Marcus knows something about saving a life.
He provided a kidney for his father in 1989 when he was twenty-six years old.
At the time when I did the donation for the kidney it wasn't, I mean he needed it and
I had, you know, I was compatible so it wasn't even a question.
I know it helped him, yeah.
It gave more years on his life, so that's all that matters.
And then you received that gift of life as well.
Yes.
I'm about to get teary eyed because I was so so blessed that it happened.
I really am.
Yep.
But it was a long road that led to Marcus's successful heart transplant.
For nearly eight years, doctors at The Ohio State Ross Heart Hospital did what they could
to keep Marcus's heart pumping.
Marcus was put on medication, a strict diet and a moderate exercise routine.
Inevitably, the only solution was a heart transplant.
To give his failing heart a rest, and to keep his heart pumping while waiting for a transplant,
doctors implanted a left ventricular assist device or LVAD in Marcus in 2013.
An LVAD is a mechanical pump that is attached to the heart to help an ailing heart pump
blood through the body.
Marcus was fortunate that he'd been receiving treatment at Ohio State for years leading
up to his transplant.
When Marcus needed the LVAD, he was in the right place.
For patients requiring advanced heart treatment, Ohio State is the only program in central
Ohio performing implantation or artificial heart pumps, ventricular assist devices and
heart transplantation.
This is actually a bridge to the heart transplant.
That's how they were presenting it to me.
And so I was ready and my I had a nice support cast supporting cast to help me through this.
Waiting for an organ for a transplant can be difficult, so Marcus decided to go back
to school to keep his mind busy and his life moving forward.
I wanted to finish school too.
And I was asking them, should I go back to school or should I wait?
And they said, just live your life, you know, if it happens it happens.
So and then I was able to finish school and then the heart came through.
Marcus recalls that day when his phone rang with news of a donor heart.
And they called me and I was like I had the biggest smile on my face, I'm serious and
that smile lasted all day long.
And nothing anybody could have said to me that day would have made my would have ruined
it.
So why are you smiling so much?
I said man, I got my heart.
It's going to happen today.
A lot of reasons made Marcus the ideal candidate.
One, his attitude.
He was always smiling despite everything that we've had put him through.
The second was the fact that he was very compliant, he would always take his medications, he was
always there and always on time.
And third was that the rest of his body, despite all of these years of heart failure, was actually
functioning really well.
After the transplant surgery, Marcus said he felt good almost immediately.
Now at fifty-one years old, Marcus no longer feels sluggish and tired.
He has energy once again.
Mine was quick.
I was I was sitting up that, in a chair, that evening and I was walking the next day around
the hospital floor though, just the hospital floor.
But that's amazing!
That's what they keep saying.
Marcus credits the doctors and staff at The Ohio State Comprehensive Transplant Center
for his positive outcome.
I had the best experience I could've imagined that could happen with something like this.
But doctors credit Marcus, saying his positive attitude certainly helped with his positive
outcome.
It's one of those things where Marcus could have said, why me?
Why did this happen to me?
Why do I have heart failure?
Why do I need a ventricular assist device?
Why do I need a heart transplant?
Instead he was always smiling and always kind of took it upbeat.
In fact, many of my other patients point to Marcus as an example of a how a good outlook
on life can affect them.
Marcus received his Associate's degree in health technology.
He continues to exercise to increase his energy level and Dr. Kilic says his new heart is
working great.
The next step for Marcus is to meet his donor family.
Marcus is like many organ transplant patients who feel the need to personally show thanks
for their organ gift.
With the help of Lifeline of Ohio, Marcus is now communicating with the family of his
donor.
Actually I've received a first letter from them and I wrote back and then I got a second
letter about ten days ago.
I wanted to meet them the day after, which I know that's being overzealous but I had
to realize you know they lost somebody so you got to wait for them to be ready.
Marcus is hoping that someday soon his donor family will be ready to meet him.