Jeff Eble

Type of Donation:          heart recipient

Age and Location:          Age 56 – Cape Coral, FL

Donation Date:                8/24/2015

Sponsor:                              Honored by Genessy Management & Development

JEFF’S STORY

Jeff was born in 1963 with seven birth defects in his heart. He was a classic “blue baby.” At six weeks of age, his arteries were banded, which allowed him to grow large enough to undergo open-heart surgery at the age of four.  He had a large ventricular septal defect, which was repaired at that time. His parents were not informed about the other six defects. Therefore, Jeff grew up believing that he had one defect, and that it had been corrected. At age 27, he met the girl of his dreams, and within four months they were engaged.  One year later, they were married. After their first son Alex was born, Jeff began experiencing pain in his chest. Testing revealed that he had developed a large aortic aneurysm as a result of two of his birth defects. When his surgeon opened his chest, he soon discovered that there wasn’t one birth defect in Jeff’s heart that was fixed, but instead, that there were seven birth defects in his heart, with one fixed.  

Jeff recovered from that surgery and six years later, had a second son.  For many years after these surgeries, Jeff experienced non-life-threatening electrical abnormalities of the heart, called atrial fibrillations.  Then, in the summer of 2010, Jeff’s heart first experienced a life-threatening electrical abnormality, called ventricular tachycardia. The erratic electrical activity in the top of his heart had traversed the AV node, and was now affecting the lower portion of his heart.  From there, his health declined, and heart failure soon occurred.

Jeff and his family had been residing in Colorado Springs, but his health was not good enough for the local Colorado transplant center to accept him as a patient.   After much research, Jeff and his wife contacted Cedars-Sinai, because they had concluded that it was the best heart transplant clinic in the world. In the summer of 2015, Jeff’s health had declined to the point where death was imminent without a transplant. At the time, his sons were aged eighteen and twelve. Jeff was admitted to Cedars-Sinai in June of 2015 to live in-patient while he waited for a heart to be found for him.  This was a time of both hope and fear.

In August of 2015, a heart was found for him.  Jeff’s transplant has allowed him to raise his two sons and to be a good husband to his loving wife.  After moving back to Colorado Springs one year after his transplant, Jeff was experiencing increasing difficulty with breathing because he was living at 6,600 feet above sea level.  Therefore, his house was sold, and the family moved to South Florida.  

Today, Jeff lives in a home with a backyard pool, and he’s able to enjoy swimming with his sons.  He can exercise regularly at his local gym and enjoys attending church on Sundays. Today, his youngest son is a sophomore in high school, and he and his family are blessed by the gift of time.  Togetherness is not taken for granted. Jeff and his family have had the opportunity to meet his donor family, and they are such amazing people! Jeff’s donor was a wonderful, thriving young man, who tragically lost his life in a traffic accident. It is unusual for donor and recipients to have the opportunity to meet one another, and these two families have come together, to share their lives.  Sometimes, it is easy to take life for granted, but when you have received the gift of life – no day is ever wasted!