Transplants mark milestone

New heart turns patient into triathlete

By Eric Leach

Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY -- Two years ago, Andrew Smith received a heart transplant at UCLA Medical Center.

Today, the 46-year-old is healthy once again, training to compete in a triathlon -- thanks to the medical miracle of organ transplants, which were performed successfully for the first time 50 years ago this month.

"I owe my life to the pioneers of transplantation, the organ donors and the patients who came before me," said Smith, who works at an electronics company in Simi Valley and lives with his wife, Lynn, in Newbury Park.

Since Dr. Joseph E. Murray performed the first successful organ transplant -- a kidney transplant -- on Dec. 23, 1954, transplants have saved the lives of more than 400,000 people like Smith.

At the time, Murray braved criticism that he was playing God with human lives, but he pushed ahead, leading the way for the first liver transplant in 1963 and the first heart transplant in 1968.

Smith, who met Murray this year at the U.S. Transplant Games, called him and other transplant pioneers "incredibly brave. They did something that was radical and in some cases unpopular, that many people did not want to happen."

Jennifer Martin, donor services program director for the National Kidney Foundation, said what has happened over the last half-century was amazing.

"It is the 50th anniversary, and it's really something that's been a miracle for thousands of people -- so many people's lives have been saved."

Smith's transplant story started in late 2001 during a walk at Jalama Beach north of Santa Barbara.

"We had gone up there to camp for a couple of days. I turned to my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and told her I couldn't walk any farther.

"Up until then I had been pretty active, hiking, skiing, playing golf. I had no serious illnesses," Smith said.

He ended up seeing a cardiologist at UCLA, who told him that he had an enlarged heart and was likely to need a transplant.

By September 2002 the problem was much worse. Smith later learned that doctors feared he would die within two months.

"I passed out and my heart actually stopped. They resuscitated me and I was put on the priority list for a heart transplant. They woke me up at 2 a.m. (on a) Monday at UCLA to tell me they had a donor."

He received his transplant on Sept. 23, 2002, and although he didn't have any significant problems in recovery the process was slow.

"I couldn't have done it without Lynn. I was extremely weak. When I got home I couldn't make it up the one step on the porch. Lynn stayed at home for about three months and nursed me back to health. She's been an amazing companion. She's the one who gave me a reason to live. A year after my transplant we got married."

She said Andrew has been just as important to her.

"He has saved my life as much as I have contributed to his recovery. He's my partner in life. That's something absolutely priceless," she said, noting that they both train for triathlons now.

Smith said that all he knows about the heart he received was that it was from a 38-year-old Los Angeles man, but Smith stressed that he and other transplant patients owe their lives to the organ donors and their families.

"No matter how good the medical care available, without organ donors none of it would mean anything," he said. "It's an incredibly generous gift."

Smith now lives an unusually active life -- playing golf, hiking, skiing and planning for a triathlon in May.

"I'm doing extremely well. I feel great. There's nothing I can't do."

Eric Leach, (805) 583-7602 eric.leach@dailynews.com

Copyright © 2004 Los Angeles Daily News.

This article posted January 13, 2005.