Marcus Roberts
Type of Donation: heart and kidney
Age and Location: Age 43 – Long Beach, CA
Date of Transplant: 3/29/2022 and 3/30/2022
Sponsor: Honored by Thermo Fisher Scientific
MARCUS’S STORY
It was a hot summer day in 2015 when Marcus’ blood pressure plummeted.
Sitting at the kitchen table across from his mom, Kim, at his home in Las Vegas, the 37-year-old’s color suddenly drained from his face. Kim knew something was very wrong. She rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with simultaneous congestive heart failure and renal failure.
For Marcus—a football coach from Long Beach, California who loved to cook and travel—this came out of nowhere. He’d been working out daily; in fact, he’d never been more fit. Marcus is a self-proclaimed medical anomaly, and he would go on to experience seven heart attacks before receiving his new heart, and a kidney, in 2022.
After serving eight years in the military (five with the United States (U.S.) Navy and three with the U.S. Airforce), there was nothing Marcus hadn't seen or experienced. But these health challenges were something new, and they terrified him. Even though he’d already retired from the military when he got sick, Marcus’ training kicked in—he was going to face the new challenges head on, and fight to the death.
Pain and adversity replaced fitness and health for the three years Marcus spent on the waiting list for a new heart. Upon receiving his heart on March 29, 2022, his care team at Cedars-Sinai determined that a kidney transplant would also be necessary. He received one the following day.
As someone who dedicated many years of his life in service to others—and who would do anything to help someone in need—Marcus struggled with his inability to help himself. He is eternally grateful to his donors and their families for enabling him to get back to serving others with a new outlook of hope. For now, that means getting back to his family. And while he wouldn’t consider himself a hero, his family would.