In March 2021, Jack Chappell, a loving husband and father of two, received devastating news: he had exhausted all options, and only a heart transplant could save his life.
“I would not be here. No transplant person would be here. There is no organ donation unless there’s blood to make that work,” Jack said.
Jack knows he’s alive today thanks to the selfless generosity of strangers.
“It's not all about me, you know, it's about the person who gave me the organ and the blood donors,” Jack added. “I always thought someone deserved the heart before me.’
Jack was first diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2013. But from there, his condition worsened. Eventually, this led to him being implanted with an LVAD, a heart pump, in 2015-- leaving him attached to batteries 24/7.
Unfortunately, that pump had started failing him. After contracting Covid-19 in late 2020, Jack was experiencing internal bleeding.
“I started getting the blood transfusions. I would start out, get one every couple of weeks or something. Then all of a sudden, it started getting more frequent. It got to the point where it was more than once a week, and that's when they started saying, ‘Hey, we got to do something,”’ Jack explained.
The only cure was a new heart. And so he waited for three and a half months in the hospital.
“Fortunately, I was able to feel good in the hospital while waiting for it. I was able to get blood transfusions to keep me going until they could find a heart. And I was able to work from a hospital,” Jack said. “If I wasn't able to work, I would’ve probably drove myself crazy sitting there for four months, just sitting around.”
Finally, in July he and his family got the news they’d been praying for. His doctors said they’d found a heart.
Just two weeks after his successful transplant, he was finally able to go home and heal.
It’s been a long journey to get to where he is now. Full of many new “firsts,” like standing in his pool, his favorite spot, for the first time in years. Something he couldn’t do when he had his LVAD.
He’s also been checking off some bucket list items.
“I’ve some trips planned. Went on some trips previous already,” Jack said. “I can't stand to sit still. If you have something you want to go do, go do it. I don't care if it’s going to a ballgame, going to concerts, going to do stuff. I want to spend some more time, with my friends while I have an opportunity to. Spend more time with my family.”
And he got to be by his daughter’s side for a monumental moment.
“I got to walk my daughter down the aisle. If it wasn't for heart transplant and organ donors and blood donors and all the doctors and nurses and everybody else, I would never get to accomplish that,” Jack said.
It took 88 blood donations from donors, and one organ donor to give Jack the rest of his life back. He says he doesn’t take this second chance at life for granted.
“But the main thing is, if it wasn't for the blood, wasn't for the people who donate, there would be no Jack Chappell right now,” Jack explained. “I don’t think you can give anybody anything more than that in your entire lifetime. For me to receive that gift, there’s no way in my lifetime I could ever repay that debt.”
This life is brought to you by blood donors.
