Not Everyone Gets Two Birthdays

M got a call about 1:30 yesterday at work that there was a potential heart for Joey. This ist he third "potential heart" they've had, so none of us got our hopes up too much. However, when the next call came within the half-hour, we knew it was for real. M left to pack a few quick things, grab Joey's dad, and headed to SLC. She desparately wanted to talk to Joey before he went into surgery, and she actually got the chance to spend a few hours with him. The surgery got scheduled to begin at midnight. It was kind of weird that it was so many hours after the initial call, because all of us, including M, had thought 2-3 hours max between the time they had a heart and implanting it. I woke up to a text this morning at 6:48 saying that everything went well, the heart was a good fit, and both sides were working (important because the reason for the heart plant was a severely damaged left ventricle) but she couldn't see him yet. Around 10:00, she called the credit union and she was at Joey's side and called to say he's waking up and still had the breathing tube. This was taken out early afternoon. Joey has a new, healthy heart...HURRAY!!! God is so good.

Please continue to pray that his body would accept this new heart, and also pray for the family and other loved ones that had to say goodbuy to someone they loved today. Bittersweet, for sure.

The nurse told Joey, "now you have 2 birthdays...November 22nd and June 23rd!". What a gift.