November 23, 1988

Heart recipient has life to be thankful for

       Bob Henry stands in his driveway near Bargersville and draws back the string of his powerful bow.  The arrow lodges near the center of the target at the end of his driveway off State Road 144.  But the most remarkable fact of the arrow’s flight is not seen:  The blood that raced through the grateful archer’s 6’, 4” body was pumped by a transplanted heart.  It’s the heart of a 22 year old donor, who remains anonymous to the 45 year old Henry.  “I really would like to know the people this heart came from,” Henry said.  “There’s not enough money in the world that I could give those people to say thank you.”  Henry knows well the blessings of his challenging life as his family prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  If not for the transplant he received February 16 at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis, doctors say he would not be alive.  “I feel like I’ve got two birthdays now,” Henry said.  “My real birthday is in October.  Now I’ve got one in February, too.”

         Henry knows that 15,000 to 20,000 people a year die because the organs they need are not available for transplant.  And he knows that his blood type, AB, is rare.  So he was surprised when IU Medical Center doctors found a heart for him not long after he was admitted to the hospital January 26.  “I think IU is the greatest hospital in the country,” Henry said.  “They saved my life.”  He’d already had a heart attack in January 1985 when he became gravely ill again the same month this year.  His family had a history of heart trouble, and he’d been a cigarette smoker for 35 years.  Henry went into respiratory arrest twice while in the hospital.  “I almost died twice,” he said.  “It’s a very, very scary feeling.”  He said doctors told him the heart they removed from his body in February looked like “a piece of garbage, a piece of charcoal.”  Now the doctors say that if he follows their orders and takes the multiple medications they’ve prescribed, he can expect to live another 25 years or so.  And he’ll have no greater joy during those years than watching his 18 month old grandson, Todd, grow to be a man.

        Henry said he thought about Todd and the other members of his family more than anything else while he was hospitalized.  He wore a beard for 14 years, until the doctors ordered it shaved for the operation.  When his grandson saw his clean shaven grandfather for the first time, he did not recognize the man.  “I just couldn’t keep the tears back then,” Henry said.  “He actually was afraid of me.”  But Henry’s grown his beard back now, and Todd cries when he must leave his grandfather’s arms.  Henry had to retire from 22 years of service with General Motors because of his disability.  He went to the Chevrolet plant on West Washington Street in Indianapolis Tuesday to sign the papers.  His days are long and often boring now, but the former White River fire chief eventually wants to find volunteer work.  His wife, Linda, works at Specialty Connector in Franklin.  “When the nurse told me they had a heart for him, I nearly fell to pieces,” she said.  “He’s doing great now.”

         Henry said he worried while in the hospital that if he died his family would have to move out of their comfortable brick home.  He’d taken out disability insurance on the family’s cars and truck, but he could not afford the premium to insure the house.  But with Linda’s income and Bob’s pension and Social Security, the Henrys are making ends meet.  They’ve got a 20 pound turkey for the holiday.  “We’re going to have a good feast this year, Henry said.  “I hope we’re going to have a good Christmas too.  I know we will.”
 
 

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